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 Sep 1, 2026 · page revised Aug 18, 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
- Jun 2026
- Update frequency
- Monthly
Los Angeles is the busiest tracked US container port by loaded imports, 2,675,892 TEU over the first 6 months of 2026. Across all 9 tracked ports, loaded imports are 12,072,600 TEU year to date, up 1.5% versus the same months of 2025. This ranks import DEMAND (loaded inbound boxes); it is not a congestion reading.
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.
| Port | Loaded imports, YTD 2026 (TEU) | vs YTD 2025 | Latest month (June 2026) | Empty share (latest) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles | 2,675,892 | +5.0% | 530,558 | 34.5% |
| Long Beach | 2,348,001 | +2.6% | 387,025 | 38.1% |
| New York/New Jersey | 2,229,447 | -0.2% | 388,842 | 34.4% |
| Savannah | 1,420,122 | +2.1% | 240,445 | 26.2% |
| Houston | 1,029,667 | +6.8% | 177,097 | 17.2% |
| Virginia | 797,611 | +5.6% | 134,859 | 19.0% |
| Charleston | 577,901 | -8.8% | 96,849 | 24.4% |
| Seattle/Tacoma | 520,095 | -13.9% | 94,359 | 22.1% |
| Oakland | 473,864 | -1.0% | 78,114 | 15.8% |
| All 9 tracked ports | 12,072,600 | +1.5% | 2,128,148 | — |
Previous weeks
Week of Aug 13, 2026
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 6 months of 2026 against the same months of 2025, so the comparison is like-for-like; the latest-month column is June 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.