August 2024 Inbound Loaded

PortAugust 2024August 2023August 2019 Change from 2023 Change from 2019
Los Angeles 509,363 433,224 437,613 17.6%16.4%
Long Beach 456,868 325,436 322,780 40.4%41.5%
San Pedro Bay Total 966,231 758,660 760,393 27.4%27.1%
Oakland 83,272 72,481 88,325 14.9%-5.7%
NWSA 123,652 82,767 112,267 49.4%10.1%
Hueneme 9,522 10,540 4,831 -9.7%97.1%
San Diego 6,033 6,086 5,318 -0.9%13.4%
USWC Total 1,188,710 930,534 971,134 27.7%22.4%
Boston 8,770 13,150 14,047 -33.3%-37.6%
NYNJ  348,921 342,541   
Philadelphia 36,171 33,780 25,443 7.1%42.2%
Maryland 37,479 49,647 44,195 -24.5%-15.2%
Virginia 139,127 136,788 121,542 1.7%14.5%
South Carolina 99,078 102,207 103,221 -3.1%-4.0%
Georgia 244,306 202,423 217,017 20.7%12.6%
Jaxport 30,616 33,242 30,484 -7.9%0.4%
Port Everglades 28,952 26,801 24,407 8.0%18.6%
Port Miami     
USEC Total 624,499 946,959 922,897   
New Orleans 11,745 9,229 11,908 27.3%-1.4%
Houston 163,211 149,660 110,318 9.1%47.9%
USGC Total 174,956 158,889 122,226 10.1%43.1%
Vancouver 155,676 135,492 145,860 14.9%-6.7%
Prince Rupert 35,619 26,329 71,453 35.3%-50.2%
British Columbia Total 191,295 161,821 217,313 18.2%-12.0%
Lazaro Cardenas 74,158 60,650 58,379 22.3%27.0%
Manzanillo 149,833 130,826 119,933 14.5%24.9%
Mexico Pacific Coast Total 223,991 191,476 178,312 17.0%25.6%
U.S. Ports Total 1,988,165 2,036,382 2,016,257 18.7%16.1%

August 2024 Outbound Loaded

PortAugust 2024August 2023August 2019 Change from 2023 Change from 2019
Los Angeles 121,744 124,988 146,284 -2.6%-16.8%
Long Beach 104,646 93,402 124,975 12.0%-16.3%
San Pedro Bay Total 226,390 218,390 271,259 3.7%-16.5%
Oakland 59,362 62,785 75,080 -5.5%-20.9%
NWSA 51,427 43,399 74,852 18.5%-31.3%
Hueneme 2,124 2,112 1,207 0.6%76.0%
San Diego 472 490 392 -3.7%20.4%
USWC Total 339,775 327,176 422,790 3.9%-19.6%
Boston 3,806 5,863 8,220 -35.1%-53.7%
NYNJ  106,025 127,237   
Philadelphia 6,679 6,301 6,052 6.0%10.4%
Maryland 16,551 19,945 19,924 -17.0%-16.9%
Virginia 93,663 89,959 80,655 4.1%16.1%
South Carolina 52,025 56,459 73,927 -7.9%-29.6%
Georgia 117,828 101,539 125,558 16.0%-6.2%
Jaxport 44,710 42,644 42,934 4.8%4.1%
Port Everglades 37,760 32,047 37,602 17.8%0.4%
Port Miami  24,538 32,980   
USEC Total 373,022 485,320 555,089   
New Orleans 22,095 17,934 26,022 23.2%-15.1%
Houston 131,241 110,008 109,388 19.3%20.0%
USGC Total 153,336 127,942 135,410 19.8%13.2%
Vancouver 62,825 56,085 92,120 12.0%-31.8%
Prince Rupert 10,729 7,928 15,144 35.3%-29.2%
British Columbia Total 73,554 64,013 107,264 14.9%-31.4%
Lazaro Cardenas 4,927 5,661 22,586 -13.0%-78.2%
Manzanillo 26,138 27,494 22,588 -4.9%-15.7%
Mexico Pacific Coast Total 31,065 33,155 45,174 -6.3%-31.2%
U.S. Ports Total 1,197,142 1,255,996 1,536,986 3.4%-13.2%

August 2024 Year-to-Date TEUs

PortAugust 2024August 2023August 2019 Change from 2023 Change from 2019
Los Angeles 6,631,688 5,649,686 6,311,874 17.4%5.1%
Long Beach 6,087,875 4,993,237 4,971,407 21.9%22.5%
San Pedro Bay Ports 12,719,563 10,642,923 11,283,281 19.5%12.7%
NYNJ     
Georgia 3,680,293 3,236,290 3,076,998 13.7%19.6%
Houston 2,791,127 2,510,162 1,980,512 11.2%40.9%
Manzanillo 2,602,946 2,398,527 2,060,201 8.5%26.3%
Virginia 2,400,056 2,165,883 1,977,687 10.8%21.4%
Vancouver 2,380,129 2,006,393 2,168,379 18.6%9.8%
NWSA 2,137,902 1,874,148 2,562,329 14.4%-16.6%
South Carolina 1,664,017 1,637,060 1,651,069 1.6%0.8%
Lazaro Cardenas 1,586,838 1,175,948 905,449 34.9%75.3%
Oakland 1,513,303 1,372,870 1,697,713 10.2%-10.9%
Montreal 991,959 1,011,082 1,173,617 -1.9%-15.5%
JaxPort 905,081 853,573 904,612 6.0%0.1%
Port Everglades 734,733 672,494 690,233 9.3%6.4%
Port Miami     
Philadelphia 572,897 475,361 408,386 20.5%40.3%
Prince Rupert 533,966 478,175 782,659 11.7%-31.8%
Maryland 403,365 746,377 1,021,341 -46.0%-60.5%
New Orleans 340,948 319,096 424,295 6.8%-19.6%
Boston 171,519 156,626 201,483 9.5%-14.9%
Hueneme 150,362 165,733 83,376 -9.3%80.3%
San Diego 96,457 104,802 93,348 -8.0%3.3%
Portland, Oregon 62,754 82,703 26-24.1%
U.S. Ports Total 51,159,778 44,729,149 46,430,275  

August 2024 Container Traffic at Major North American Ports

Exhibits 1-3 detail container traffic through the ports we monitor. Here is how the busiest container ports fared in August.

The Port of Long Beach experienced an expected burst in container traffic in August as cargo owners continued to move higher volumes of cargo through U.S. West Coast ports in anticipation of a potential labor disruption that could shut down ports along the East and Gulf Coast on October 1. The 456,868 inbound loaded TEUs discharged at the Long Beach gateway in Southern California were the highest number of inbound loads in any other month in the port’s history. This represented a 40.4% bump over the preceding August and a 41.5% gain over the pre-pandemic August of 2019. Outbound loads (104,646) were up 12.0% year-over-year but down 16.3% from August 2019. Year-to-date, total container traffic (loads and empties) through the port amounted to 6,087,875 TEUs, a 22.5% increase over the first eight months of 2019. 

Across the harbor at the Port of Los Angeles, inbound loads (509,363) were the most the port has handled in a single month since May 2021. The year-over-year gain was 17.6%, while the increase since August 2019 was 16.4%. Outbound loads in August (121,744) were down 1.6% from the preceding year and also down 16.8% from August 2019. Total container traffic through the first eight months of the year at the Southern California gateway (6,631,688) was up 5.1% from the identical period in 2019.

In the San Francisco Bay Area, the Port of Oakland posted historic lows for August. Although the number of laden TEUs discharged at the Northern California gateway this August did amount to a 14.9% bump over last August’s volume, the 83,272 inbound loads the port handled this August represented the second fewest the port recorded in any other August since 2017. Meanwhile, the 59,362 outbound loads that departed from the port last month were the fewest in any August in this century. Not surprisingly, total container traffic YTD (1,513,303) was the lowest since the first eight months of 2015.

Up in the State of Washington, import loads in August at the Northwest Seaport Alliance Ports of Seattle and Tacoma amounted to 123,652, a 49.4% year-over-year gain but just a 10.1% increase over August 2019. Export loads (51,427) were up 18.5% from a year earlier but down 31.3% from August 2019. Total YTD containers moved through the two Puget Sound ports (2,137,902) represented a 16.6% decline from the same period in 2019.

Across the border in British Columbia, inbound loads through the Port of Vancouver, Canada’s busiest seaport, amounted to 155,676 TEUs, an increase of 14.9% from a year earlier but a 6.7% decline from August 2019. Outbound loads (62,825) were up 12.0% from the previous August but were down 31.8% from the same month in 2019. Total YTD container traffic through the port (2,380,129) represented a gain of 9.8% from the same period in pre-pandemic 2019.  

Moving to the Atlantic Coast, the Port of Virginia handled 139,127 loaded inbound TEUs in August, a modest 1.7% year-over-year bump but a 14.5% gain over August 2019. Outbound loads in August (93,663) were up 4.1% from the preceding August and 16.1% higher than the outbound loads reported in August 2019. Total YTD container traffic through the Mid-Atlantic gateway (2,400,056) represented a 21.4% increase over the first eight months of 2019.

At South Carolina’s Port of Charleston, inbound loads in August (99,078) were down 3.1% from a year earlier and 4.0% below August 2019. Outbound loads (52,025) were off by 7.9% year-over-year and 23.6% from the same month in 2019. Total container traffic through August (1,664,017) was up a mere 0.8% from the same period in 2019.

The 244,306 inbound loads discharged at the Port of Savannah in August represented a 20.7% gain over the same month last year and a 12.6% increase over August 2019. Outbound loads at the Georgia port (117,828) were up 16.0% year-over-year but remained 6.2% below the mark set in August 2019. YTD, total container traffic through the port (3,680,293) was up 19.6% over the first eight months of 2019.

Down along the Gulf of Mexico, Port Houston recorded 163,211 inbound loads in August, a year-over-year gain of 9.1% and an imposing 47.9% increase over August 2019. Outbound loads (131,241) were the most of any port in North America in August. Total YTD container moves through the Texas gateway (2,791,127) were up 40.9% over the same period in 2019.

South of the border, Mexico’s Port of Manzanillo handled 149,833 inbound loads in August, up 14.5% from a year earlier and up 24.9% from August 2019. Outbound loads (26,138) were down 4.9% and 15.7% from the respective benchmarks. Total container traffic YTD through the Pacific Coast port (2,602,946 TEUs) was up 26.3% from the same period in 2019.

USWC Ports Shares of Worldwide U.S. Mainland Container Trade

Shares of U.S. Mainland Ports Containerized Import Tonnage

August 2024August 2023August 2019August 2014
USWC39.0%35.7%38.3%43.4%
LA/LB29.2%26.6%27.4%32.1%
Oakland3.2%3.3%4.3%4.1%
NWSA4.9%4.1%5.4%5.5%

Shares of U.S. Mainland Ports Containerized Import Value

August 2024August 2023August 2019August 2014
USWC43.4%40.9%40.4%49.3%
LA/LB33.7%31.9%34.6%38.2%
Oakland3.1%3.2%3.0%4.0%
NWSA5.8%6.0%7.3%6.4%

Shares of U.S. Mainland Containerized Export Tonnage

August 2024August 2023August 2019August 2014
USWC31.8%33.1%36.4%40.8%
LA/LB19.6%20.2%20.9%24.8%
Oakland5.1%5.7%5.9%5.7%
NWSA6.3%6.1%8.4%9.0%

Shares of U.S. Mainland Containerized Export Value

Major USWC Ports' Shares of U.S. Container Trade with East Asia

Shares of U.S. Mainland Ports Containerized Import Tonnage

August 2024August 2023August 2019August 2014
USWC26.2%27.3%31.4%35.3%
LA/LB17.6%17.9%20.0%24.5%
Oakland4.8%5.7%6.1%5.3%
NWSA3.6%3.2%4.6%4.9%
August 2024August 2023August 2019August 2014
USWC57.5%53.1%55.2%64.2%
LA/LB45.4%42.8%42.6%49.5%
Oakland3.8%3.8%4.5%4.6%
NWSA7.5%5.9%7.6%8.5%

Shares of U.S. Mainland Ports Containerized Import Value

August 2024August 2023August 2019August 2014
USWC65.0%60.7%65.0%70.1%
LA/LB51.6%48.8%49.8%55.4%
Oakland3.8%3.7%4.4%4.6%
NWSA8.7%7.4%10.3%9.3%

Shares of U.S. Mainland Containerized Export Tonnage

August 2024August 2023August 2019August 2014
USWC54.8%53.4%59.8%67.8%
LA/LB34.7%33.2%36.1%43.7%
Oakland8.1%8.5%9.0%8.1%
NWSA10.7%10.1%13.9%14.8%

Shares of U.S. Mainland Containerized Export Value

August 2024August 2023August 2019August 2014
USWC55.2%56.1%63.2%70.2%
LA/LB36.7%37.1%41.5%50.6%
Oakland9.8%11.3%10.9%8.7%
NWSA8.3%7.0%9.7%10.0%

Weights and Values: Alternative Metrics

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