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 Aug 2026 · source last checked Oct 31, 2026 · page revised Oct 28, 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; each port's loaded imports, loaded exports and empties
- 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
- Aug 2026
- Update frequency
- Monthly
Los Angeles is the busiest tracked US container port by loaded imports, 4,221,440 TEU over the first 9 months of 2026. Across all 9 tracked ports, loaded imports are 18,350,270 TEU year to date (New York/New Jersey through August 2026), up 1.7% versus the same months of 2025. This ranks import DEMAND (loaded inbound boxes); it is not a congestion reading.
Across all 9 tracked US container ports, loaded imports are 18,350,270 TEU year to date through August 2026, up 1.7% versus 2025. Los Angeles leads at 4,221,440 TEU YTD. LA and Long Beach are up 4.1% and 5.5% respectively, while New York/New Jersey, Charleston and Seattle/Tacoma are down 1.4%, 8.2% and 12.2% respectively.
| Port | Loaded imports, YTD 2026 (TEU) | vs YTD 2025 | Latest month (September 2026) | Empty share (latest) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles | 4,221,440 | +4.1% | 545,696 | 35.5% |
| Long Beach | 3,780,952 | +5.5% | 509,390 | 38.7% |
| New York/New Jersey | 3,025,601 | -1.4% | 404,080 (August 2026) | 33.7% |
| Savannah | 2,190,666 | +2.7% | 252,797 | 28.9% |
| Houston | 1,561,680 | +6.1% | 174,189 | 15.5% |
| Virginia | 1,197,992 | +3.9% | 119,353 | 21.0% |
| Charleston | 874,594 | -8.2% | 97,384 | 26.5% |
| Seattle/Tacoma | 791,168 | -12.2% | 101,324 | 21.3% |
| Oakland | 706,177 | -3.1% | 82,975 | 15.6% |
| All 9 tracked ports | 18,350,270 | +1.7% | 2,287,188 (with New York/New Jersey's August 2026) | — |
| Stream | Latest (September 2026) | MoM | YoY | vs 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loaded imports | 545,696 TEU | +9.1% | +18.6% | +35.6% |
| Loaded exports | 125,751 TEU | +8.8% | +9.6% | -3.8% |
| Empty containers | 369,718 TEU | +8.8% | +20.0% | +57.7% |
| Stream | Latest (September 2026) | MoM | YoY | vs 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loaded imports | 509,390 TEU | +11.7% | +31.3% | +43.5% |
| Loaded exports | 91,747 TEU | -8.0% | +7.8% | -25.5% |
| Empty containers | 380,299 TEU | +9.7% | +23.1% | +69.6% |
| Stream | Latest (August 2026) | MoM | YoY | vs 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loaded imports | 404,080 TEU | +3.1% | -2.9% | +18.0% |
| Loaded exports | 118,417 TEU | +5.7% | -7.2% | -6.9% |
| Empty containers | 265,653 TEU | +2.4% | -8.5% | +27.8% |
| Stream | Latest (September 2026) | MoM | YoY | vs 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loaded imports | 252,797 TEU | -4.9% | +5.5% | +37.8% |
| Loaded exports | 102,599 TEU | -12.5% | -11.3% | -5.0% |
| Empty containers | 144,309 TEU | +3.9% | +13.2% | +107.1% |
| Stream | Latest (September 2026) | MoM | YoY | vs 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loaded imports | 174,189 TEU | -1.0% | +15.7% | +63.9% |
| Loaded exports | 132,009 TEU | -3.0% | +2.3% | +29.0% |
| Empty containers | 55,963 TEU | +15.3% | +30.8% | +169.4% |
| Stream | Latest (September 2026) | MoM | YoY | vs 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loaded imports | 119,353 TEU | -16.8% | -7.2% | +4.1% |
| Loaded exports | 72,115 TEU | -17.0% | -12.8% | +0.8% |
| Empty containers | 50,870 TEU | -0.4% | +2.1% | -3.6% |
| Stream | Latest (September 2026) | MoM | YoY | vs 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loaded imports | 97,384 TEU | -3.1% | -4.9% | +8.1% |
| Loaded exports | 49,559 TEU | -3.1% | +2.2% | -19.4% |
| Empty containers | 53,050 TEU | +7.4% | -12.7% | +34.6% |
| Stream | Latest (September 2026) | MoM | YoY | vs 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loaded imports | 101,324 TEU | +21.5% | -4.3% | -22.9% |
| Loaded exports | 51,155 TEU | +24.2% | -9.6% | -37.7% |
| Empty containers | 41,276 TEU | +4.1% | -20.9% | -26.7% |
| Stream | Latest (September 2026) | MoM | YoY | vs 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loaded imports | 82,975 TEU | +18.7% | +9.6% | -2.3% |
| Loaded exports | 63,299 TEU | +2.5% | +5.3% | -12.2% |
| Empty containers | 26,999 TEU | -1.5% | -15.3% | -27.7% |
MoM compares each stream with the month before, YoY with the same month a year earlier, and vs 2019 with the same month of 2019, before the pandemic. Loaded imports are the import-demand read; empties are boxes repositioned with no cargo in them.
Download the full series (CSV) ↓
Previous weeks
Week of Jun 1, 2026
Los Angeles leads at 3,175,443 TEU YTD 2026, up 2.7% against the same months of 2025. Across all 9 tracked ports, loaded imports total 14,168,807 TEU over the first 7 months of 2026, up 0.7% versus the same months of 2025. Growth is uneven: Houston and Virginia are up more than 5%, while Seattle/Tacoma, Charleston and Oakland are down more than 3%.
Week of Jul 1, 2026
Los Angeles leads at 3,175,443 TEU over the first seven months of 2026. Across all 9 tracked ports, loaded imports totaled 14,168,807 TEU year to date, down 0.1% versus the same months of 2025. Houston and Virginia posted the strongest gains at 5.2% and 5.8%, respectively, while Charleston slid 21.8% and Seattle/Tacoma dropped 13.6%. July loaded imports were 2,193,057 TEU across the nine ports.
An earlier week
Loaded imports across the nine tracked US container ports ran 12.1 million TEU year to date through June, up 1.5% versus the same period in 2025. Los Angeles led the complex with 2.7 million TEU, up 5.0% year to date. Houston and Virginia gained 6.8% and 5.6%. Seattle/Tacoma and Charleston fell 13.9% and 8.8% year to date.
An earlier week
Loaded-import volume across 9 tracked US container ports totaled 9.9 million TEU through May, down 0.8% versus the same months of 2025. Los Angeles and Houston grew 3.3% and 3.4%, while Charleston and Seattle/Tacoma fell 10.3% and 16.5%. The variation across ports reflects regional demand shifts in import traffic.
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 9 months of 2026 against the same months of 2025, so the comparison is like-for-like; the latest-month column is September 2026, the freshest month the port authorities have published through BTS, which lands a few weeks after the month closes. New York/New Jersey's latest published month is August 2026, so its year-to-date figure and comparison cover the months published so far against the same months of 2025, its latest-month cell names that month, the all-ports total in that column includes it, and the chart's all-ports line ends at the last month every port has reported. 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.
Below the ranking, each port's latest month is split into its three streams: loaded imports, loaded exports and empties, each with its change from the month before, from the same month a year earlier and from the same month of 2019. A port's loaded-imports line there is the same figure as its latest-month cell in the ranking. The CSV download carries every port's monthly loaded imports, loaded exports and empties since January 2019.
How loaded imports at Los Angeles turn into demand for warehouse space around the port is covered in warehousing at the Port of Los Angeles.