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 Jun 2026 · source last checked Oct 14, 2026 · page revised Oct 15, 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
- Jun 2026
- Update frequency
- Monthly
Los Angeles is the busiest tracked US container port by loaded imports, 3,175,443 TEU over the first 7 months of 2026. Across all 9 tracked ports, loaded imports are 14,168,807 TEU year to date (Charleston through June 2026), up 0.7% versus the same months of 2025. This ranks import DEMAND (loaded inbound boxes); it is not a congestion reading.
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%.
| Port | Loaded imports, YTD 2026 (TEU) | vs YTD 2025 | Latest month (July 2026) | Empty share (latest) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles | 3,175,443 | +2.7% | 499,552 | 36.3% |
| Long Beach | 2,815,462 | +2.1% | 467,461 | 37.4% |
| New York/New Jersey | 2,621,521 | -1.2% | 392,074 | 34.0% |
| Savannah | 1,672,010 | +2.5% | 251,888 | 26.2% |
| Houston | 1,211,475 | +5.2% | 181,808 | 14.8% |
| Virginia | 935,239 | +5.8% | 137,628 | 18.3% |
| Seattle/Tacoma | 606,466 | -13.6% | 86,371 | 22.5% |
| Charleston | 577,901 | -8.8% | 96,849 (June 2026) | 24.4% |
| Oakland | 553,290 | -3.1% | 79,426 | 16.9% |
| All 9 tracked ports | 14,168,807 | +0.7% | 2,193,057 (with Charleston's June 2026) | — |
| Stream | Latest (July 2026) | MoM | YoY | vs 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loaded imports | 499,552 TEU | -5.8% | -8.1% | +4.9% |
| Loaded exports | 111,776 TEU | -11.5% | -8.0% | -30.7% |
| Empty containers | 348,691 TEU | +0.9% | -1.5% | +32.5% |
| Stream | Latest (July 2026) | MoM | YoY | vs 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loaded imports | 467,461 TEU | +20.8% | -0.1% | +49.2% |
| Loaded exports | 104,843 TEU | +21.3% | +14.8% | -6.1% |
| Empty containers | 341,806 TEU | +17.3% | -8.0% | +78.1% |
| Stream | Latest (July 2026) | MoM | YoY | vs 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loaded imports | 392,074 TEU | +0.8% | -6.7% | +16.4% |
| Loaded exports | 112,084 TEU | -1.8% | -8.1% | -5.0% |
| Empty containers | 259,496 TEU | -1.5% | +3.4% | +25.8% |
| Stream | Latest (July 2026) | MoM | YoY | vs 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loaded imports | 251,888 TEU | +4.8% | +5.1% | +27.6% |
| Loaded exports | 114,959 TEU | +0.6% | +7.7% | -2.4% |
| Empty containers | 130,445 TEU | +3.5% | +3.0% | +96.2% |
| Stream | Latest (July 2026) | MoM | YoY | vs 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loaded imports | 181,808 TEU | +2.7% | -3.0% | +63.7% |
| Loaded exports | 124,814 TEU | -4.7% | -6.3% | +19.5% |
| Empty containers | 53,282 TEU | -16.8% | +9.3% | +121.7% |
| Stream | Latest (July 2026) | MoM | YoY | vs 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loaded imports | 137,628 TEU | +2.1% | +7.0% | +9.9% |
| Loaded exports | 84,358 TEU | -7.4% | +4.0% | +4.2% |
| Empty containers | 49,818 TEU | -6.0% | +4.6% | -12.1% |
| Stream | Latest (July 2026) | MoM | YoY | vs 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loaded imports | 86,371 TEU | -8.5% | -11.6% | -29.7% |
| Loaded exports | 44,226 TEU | -3.4% | -0.2% | -40.1% |
| Empty containers | 37,954 TEU | -4.6% | +11.9% | -27.8% |
| Stream | Latest (June 2026) | MoM | YoY | vs 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loaded imports | 96,849 TEU | -6.1% | -0.2% | +12.5% |
| Loaded exports | 53,205 TEU | +4.2% | -6.4% | -20.0% |
| Empty containers | 48,322 TEU | -18.0% | -7.2% | +22.4% |
| Stream | Latest (July 2026) | MoM | YoY | vs 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loaded imports | 79,426 TEU | +1.7% | -14.0% | -12.3% |
| Loaded exports | 60,005 TEU | -7.9% | -8.5% | -21.5% |
| Empty containers | 28,321 TEU | +5.0% | -15.1% | -21.9% |
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
An earlier week
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 7 months of 2026 against the same months of 2025, so the comparison is like-for-like; the latest-month column is July 2026, the freshest month the port authorities have published through BTS, which lands a few weeks after the month closes. Charleston's latest published month is June 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.