June 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. These results do not include container ports like the Ports of Mobile, Wilmington (NC), and Wilmington (DE), which do not make their TEU numbers public.
Analysts’ Forecasts for June TEU Tallies
On July 8, the National Retail Federation’s Global Port Tracker issued its estimate that the thirteen U.S. ports it monitors would handle 2.33 million import TEUs in the month of June. That would represent a year-over-year increase of 18.7%. Meanwhile, in a June 9 statement, the Descartes Systems Group estimated that 2,400,627 TEUs turned up at all U.S. ports in June, a year-over-year bump that represented an 8.2% increase over the previous June by Descartes’ reckoning.
What the Ports Are Reporting for June
The nation’s busiest container port, the Port of Los Angeles, handled 1,002,734 loaded and empty TEUs in June, the highest volume the port has seen in any previous June, and the third time the port has exceeded the million-container mark in a single month. That total included 530,558 inbound laden TEUs, 12.8% more than a year earlier and 33.9% higher than in June 2019. Outbound loads (126,365 TEUs) were up only 0.2% from a year ago but down 9.3% from June 2019. YTD, the port has handled 5,122,603 loaded and empty TEUs, a 12.9% increase over the volume handled in the first half of pre-pandemic 2019.
The Port of Long Beach had a busy month to conclude the first half of the calendar year with 387,025 inbound laden TEUs arriving in June, an 11.0% bump from the same month a year earlier and a 16.7% increase over the volume of discharged containers in June of 2019. Outbound loads numbered 86,446 laden TEUs, a 1.3% decline from June 2025 but down 35.4% % from June 2019. Total first-half container traffic through the Southern California port amounted to 4,829,578 loaded and empty TEUs, a volume 1.7% higher than the first half of 2025, which turned out to be the port’s busiest year ever.
Together, the San Pedro Bay maritime complex in Southern California discharged 917,583 inbound loaded TEUs in June, 12.0% more than in June 2025. Outbound loads from the two ports in June totaled 212,811 TEUs, a 1.3% decline from the year before. The total number of all containers that moved through the two ports in the first half of this year totaled 9,952,182 TEUs, a 2.6% increase over last year.
The Port of Oakland had an positive June. The Northern California gateway saw the arrival of 78,114 loaded TEUs in June, an 11.1% year-over-year jump but nonetheless down from the 80,895 inbound loads the port handled in June 2019. The 65,140 laden outbound TEUs shipped from the San Francisco Bay port in June were up 9.3% from a year earlier but much fewer than the 74,901 laden TEUs that sailed from the port in June 2019. Total container traffic in the first half of this year at Oakland amounted to 1,114,666 TEUs, down 11.2% from the 1,254,984 TEUs handled in the first six months of 2019.
June's container trade numbers at the Northwest Seaport Alliance Ports of Tacoma and Seattle saw import loads of 94,359 TEUs fall five TEUs short of the 94,364 laden TEUs the ports discharged in the same month a year earlier. Import loads were also down 16.2% from those recorded in June 2019. The 45.780 laden export TEUs shipped from the two ports in June were likewise off by 3.2% from a year earlier as well as down 40.2% from June 2019. Total first half container traffic through the NWSA, including domestic shipments involving Alaska and Hawaii, amounted to 1,433,535 TEUs, down 8.1% from the volume recorded in the same period in 2019.
At British Columbia’s other major Pacific Coast container port, the Port of Prince Rupert, June brought 34,965 inbound laden TEUs, a 21.7% drop from a year earlier and down 33.5% from June 2019. The 12,280 outbound loads shipped from port in June were up 5.6% year-over-year but 19.5% below the volume shipped in May 2019. Total container traffic through the port in the first half amounted to 425,501 TEUs, 22.6% below the volume handled in the same period seven years ago.
The Port of Philadelphia (Philaport) handled 38,265 inbound loaded TEUs in June, a 3.3% year-over-year gain as well as a 56.2% increase over the inbound volume in June 2019. The 9,979 outbound loads shipped from the Pennsylvania port were up 28.9% from a year earlier and fully 38.3% higher than the volume posted in June 2019. Total container traffic in this year's first half amounted to 434,863 loaded and empty TEUs, 46.7% more than in the same period in 2019.
The Mid-Atlantic Coast maritime gateway of the Port of Norfolk handled 134,859 laden inbound TEUs in June, a 20.1% bump over the previous June and a 19.7% increase over the volume handled in June 2019. Meanwhile, the port shipped 91,053 outbound loads in June, up 8.9% from a year earlier and 19.0% more than were shipped in June 2019. Total container traffic YTD amounted to 1,636,588 loads and empties, a 12.5% gain over the volume processed during the first half of 2019.
On the Gulf Coast, Port Houston reported the arrival of 177,097 laden TEUs, up 27.0% from a year earlier and 68.4% over the volume discharged in June 2019. Outbound loads meanwhile declined by 2.9% from last June to 131,011 laden TEUs, which was still a 23.1% gain over June 2019. Total box trade YTD through the Lone Star State’s biggest maritime gateway amounted to 2,229,473 TEUs, 52.6% greater than the volume handled in the first half of 2019.