February 2026 Container Traffic at North American Ports
The West Coast Trade Report (WCTR) is a monthly publication of the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association. The WCTR monitors container traffic through 25 North American seaports, twenty in the United States, two in Mexico, and three in Canada. The TEU tallies cited here are the actual statistics released by the ports themselves, not before the fact estimates based on proprietary models. Three important container ports, the Ports of Mobile, Wilmington (NC), and Wilmington (DE) do not make their TEU numbers public.
Analysts’ Forecasts for February TEU Tallies
On March 9, the National Retail Federation’s Global Port Tracker issued its estimate that the thirteen U.S. ports it monitors would handle 2.01 million TEUs laden with goods from abroad in the month of February. That would represent a year-over-year decline of 1.3%. This more recent outlook is also more than the 1.97 million TEUs the Global Port Tracker had projected in its February 9 forecast. Meanwhile, the Descartes Systems Group estimated that 2,083,422 TEUs arrived at all U.S. ports in February, a 6.5% falloff from the previous February, according to Descartes’ calculation.
The February 2026 TEU Tallies Ports Are Actually Reporting
The second month of 2026 saw the Port of Los Angeles, America’s busiest container gateway, discharge 433,812 loaded inbound TEUs, 5.0% more than a year earlier and 24.5% more than in pre-pandemic February 2019. Meanwhile, 116,633 loaded outbound TEUs were shipped from the Southern California port, a 6.9% increase from the same month last year but still 18.2% shy of the volume exported in February 2019. Total traffic of both loaded and empty containers through the port so far this year amounted to 1,636,323 TEUs, up 5.0% from February 2019.
The Port of Long Beach handled 368,060 inbound loaded TEUs in February, a 0.3% year-over-year dip that still kept the San Pedro Bay port 21.5% above its volume of inbound loads in February 2019. The 97,4322outbound loads the port shipped in February were up 8.2% from the previous February but down 7.5% from February 2019. Total container traffic YTD amounted to 1,615,290 TEUs, a 28.8% gain over the same months in 2019.
The Port of Oakland handled 65,611 inbound loaded TEUs in February, down 18.6% a year earlier and down 6.2% from February 2019’s tally. Meanwhile, the 64,582 outbound loads shipped from the port were off just 0.1% year over year but down 4.8% from February 2019. During the first two months of this year, the San Francisco Bay port handled a total of 359,151 TEUs, 9.8% fewer than it had handled in the same period seven years earlier.
The Northwest Seaport Alliance Ports of Tacoma and Seattle continued to operate substantially below pre-COVID container volumes. The two Washington State ports sustained a precipitous 29.5% drop in inbound loaded TEUs in February that left the ports 26.0% below the volume reported in February 2019. Outbound loads, although up 4.9% from the preceding February, were down 26.1% from February 2019. Total YTD container movements through the Puget Sound maritime gateway amounted to 435,890 TEUs, a 26.8% plunge from the same months in 2919.
Across the border in British Columbia, the Port of Vancouver continued to report inbound TEU volumes substantially above pre-COVID container volumes. The 149,739 inbound loads the port handled in February represented gains of 18.4% from a year earlier and of 15.6% over February 2019. However, while the 73,953 outbound loads shipped from the port in February were up 29.0% from a year earlier, they were 20.4% below the volume recorded in the second month of 2019. Total YTD TEU traffic at Canada’s busiest seaport (616,007 TEUs) was up 7.4% over the same period in 2019.
The Port of Prince Rupert enjoyed an exceptionally brisk February with 38,094 inbound loads, a 52.9% year-over-year gain and a 9.6% increase over February 2019. The 14,243 outbound loads shipped from the port represented a 73.8% gain from a year earlier as well as a 22.0% increase over February 2019. Nonetheless, total year-to-date container traffic through Canada’s third busiest port amounted to 142,445 TEUs, down 12.0% below the same two months in 2019.
Virginia’s Port of Norfolk handled 110,823 inbound loaded TEUs in this year’s second month, down 1.4% year-over-year but up 5.2% over February 2019. The 83,783 outbound loads that sailed from the Mid-Atlantic maritime gateway in February represented a 1.4% increase from a year earlier but a 9.3% gain over February 2019. Total box trade YTD of 495,393 TEUs was up 5.8% from the same period in 2019.
February was an off month for the Port of Charleston. The 87,817 loaded TEUs discharged by the South Carolina marine gateway were down 21.9% year-over-year but still up 13.1% from February 2019. The 51,015 loaded TEUs shipped from the port in February were down 4.1% from the preceding February while also down 17.8% from February 2019. Total container traffic during this year’s first two months amounted to 369,802 TEUs, a 3.7% fall-off from the same period in 2019.
On the Gulf Coast, Port Houston discharged 143,225 inbound loaded TEUs in February, an 8.0% year-over-year gain as well as a 15.6% increase over February 2019. The 129,568 outbound loads shipped from the Texas port in February constituted a 5.8% year-over-year gain as well as a 49.9% jump over February 2019. Total container traffic YTD amounted to 696,833 TEUs, 68.5% over the volume recorded in the first two months of 2019.