Busiest ports
Busiest US container ports by import volume
The tracked US container ports ranked by loaded-import volume, year to date and latest month, in TEU, from the port authorities' numbers republished by BTS
Data through May 2026 · source last checked Jul 28, 2026 · page revised Jul 26, 2026
Cite
- Loaded imports
About this data
- Source
- Port authority monthly container statistics, republished by BTS
- Series
- Loaded-import TEU by port, ranked; year-to-date and latest month
- Basis
- Import-demand ranking, not a congestion reading
- Geography
- The tracked US container ports
- Unit
- TEU
- Calculation
- Monthly, year-to-date vs the same months a year earlier
- Last observation
- May 2026
- Update frequency
- Monthly
Los Angeles is the busiest tracked US container port by loaded imports, 2,145,334 TEU over the first 5 months of 2026. Across all 9 tracked ports, loaded imports are 9,944,452 TEU year to date, down 0.8% versus the same months of 2025. This ranks import DEMAND (loaded inbound boxes); it is not a congestion reading.
May loaded imports across the 9 tracked US container ports totaled 2.14 million TEU, with year-to-date volume at 9.94 million TEU, down 0.8% versus 2025. Los Angeles led with a 3.3% year-to-date gain, but Seattle/Tacoma fell 16.5% and Charleston declined 10.3%. Houston, Virginia and Long Beach each posted year-to-date gains over 1%, while New York/New Jersey and Oakland turned lower.
| Port | Loaded imports, YTD 2026 (TEU) | vs YTD 2025 | Latest month (May 2026) | Empty share (latest) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles | 2,145,334 | +3.3% | 449,370 | 33.7% |
| Long Beach | 1,960,976 | +1.1% | 418,851 | 36.1% |
| New York/New Jersey | 1,840,605 | -2.4% | 400,995 | 33.8% |
| Savannah | 1,179,677 | -1.6% | 258,832 | 24.1% |
| Houston | 852,570 | +3.4% | 188,276 | 14.6% |
| Virginia | 662,752 | +3.1% | 147,936 | 16.5% |
| Charleston | 481,052 | -10.3% | 103,166 | 27.6% |
| Seattle/Tacoma | 425,736 | -16.5% | 87,186 | 20.3% |
| Oakland | 395,750 | -3.1% | 83,809 | 14.8% |
| All 9 tracked ports | 9,944,452 | -0.8% | 2,138,421 | — |
About Busiest US container ports by import volume
This page ranks the US container ports The Dwell tracks by their loaded-import volume in TEU, twenty-foot equivalent units. Loaded imports are the inbound boxes with cargo in them, the import-demand read a US importer watches, so the ranking is by demand, not by congestion: a busy port is not necessarily a backed-up one, and this page carries no dwell or queue reading. Year-to-date figures cover the first 5 months of 2026 against the same months of 2025, so the comparison is like-for-like; the latest-month column is May 2026, the freshest month the port authorities have published through BTS, which lands a few weeks after the month closes. The empty-container share column is a preview of the trade-imbalance read broken out on the empty-container-share page. The numbers are the port authorities' own container statistics, republished by BTS, and every port total here reconciles with that port's own container-volume page. See each port in detail: Los Angeles, Long Beach, New York/New Jersey, Savannah, Houston, Virginia, Charleston, Seattle/Tacoma, Oakland.