Preliminary March 2025 TEUs

The Pacific Merchant Shipping Association’s West Coast Trade Report is a monthly publication that monitors container traffic through 23 North American seaports, twenty in the United States and three in Canada. The TEU tallies cited here are the actual statistics released by the ports themselves, not a priori estimates based on proprietary models or algorithms. However, as the tardy numbers become available, the Facts & Figures tables on the PMSA website will be promptly updated.

What others are saying about March’s TEU Traffic

The National Retail Federation’s Global Port Tracker has projected that 2.14 million TEUs would arrive at the thirteen U.S, mainland ports that it monitors. That would represent an 11.1% gain from a year earlier. Descartes Systems Group, meanwhile, pegs March inbound volumes at all U.S. ports at exactly 2,380,674 TEUs, an 11.0% increase over a year earlier. Descartes also noted that March saw East and Gulf Coast ports overtake West Coast ports in market share for the first time in nine months.

What the ports themselves are saying about March

The Port of Los Angeles recorded 385,531 inbound laden TEUs in March, a modest 1.6% gain over March 2024 but a more solid 29.7% increase from pre-pandemic March 2019. Outbound loads (122,975 TEUs) were off by 15.0% from a year earlier as well as down 22.6% from the third month of 2019. Total container traffic of loaded and empty containers through the Southern California gateway through this year’s first quarter amounted to 2,504,049 TEUs, up 13.4% over the same quarter in 2019.

Meanwhile, the neighboring Port of Long Beach, inbound loads in March (380,562 TEUs) were up to pre-pandemic 5.8% from a year earlier and 54.0% over March 2019. Meanwhile, outbound loads (104,063 TEUs) slipped by 1.0% from the preceding March, but were off by 20.8% from March 2019. Total YTD container traffic through the San Pedro Bay port (2,535,575 TEUs) established Long Beach as the nation’s busiest container port in the first quarter.

In Northern California, the Port of Oakland had its busiest month since May 2022. Total container traffic in the first quarter amounted to 601,527 TEUs, a 6.3% gain over the same quarter of 2024 that still left the port 1.7% shy of the mark set in the first quarter of 2019. Inbound loads in March (87,896 TEUs) were up 5.3% from a year earlier and 17.6% ahead of March 2019. Outbound loads in March (76,157 TEUs) were up 1.1% from the previous March but still down 13.7% from March 2019.

Up in Washington State, the Northwest Seaport Alliance Ports of Tacoma and Seattle handled 109,900 inbound loads TEUs in the year’s third month, up by 18.4% from a year earlier but still down 6.1% from the mark achieved in March 2019. Outbound loads (61,575 TEUs) increased by 2,9% year-over-year but nonetheless down by 29.1% from the same month in pre-pandemic 2019. Total container traffic through the two ports YTD (832,568 TEUs) was down 10.7% from the volume reported for 2019’s first quarter.

Canada’s largest seaport, the Port of Vancouver, handled 153,152 inbound loaded TEUs in March, a decline of 3.2% from the preceding March but up 17.4% from March 2019. Outbound loads (75,009 TEUs) were down 3.6% from a year earlier and down 27.5% from March 2019. Total container traffic YTD through the British Columbia gateway amounted to 877,589 TEUs, a 4.1% gain over the same period in 2019.  

The Port of Prince Rupert handled 37,770 inbound loaded TEUs in March, down 8.2% from the preceding March and 12.4% below the volume recorded in March 2019. Outbound loads (14,411 TEUs) slipped by 2.1% from a year earlier, while trailing March 2019 by 19.2%. Total first quarter container traffic (192,471 TEUs) remained down 22.5% from the first three months of 2019.

Along the Mid-Atlantic Coast, the Port of Virginia handled 138,648 inbound loads in March, a moderate 2.7% year-over-year increase but a more substantial 29.5% increase over March 2019. Outbound loads (102,448 TEUs) edged up 1.3% from a year earlier and 14.7% over March 2019. Total container traffic in the first quarter (813,955 TEUs) marked a 14.9% gain over the same three months in 2019.

March at the Port of Charleston saw 113,524 inbound loaded TEUs, a 5.9% gain from the same month a year earlier and a 22.2% increase over March 2019. Outbound loads (59,978 TEUs) were off by 0.6% year-over-year and down 22.8% from March 2019. Total container traffic through the South Carolina port in this year’s first quarter amounted to 668,231 TEUs, up 11.8% from the same period in 2019. 

March was an especially busy month at the Port of Savannah. Inbound loads (265,937 TEUs) were up 26.0% from a year earlier and up 42.7% from March 2019. Although outbound loads (142,612 TEUs) were up by 11.4# from the previous March, they were down 8.0% from the same month in 2019. Total first quarter container traffic through the Georgia gateway (1.432,063 TEUs) represented a 24.3% jump over the same quarter in 2019.

On the Gulf Coast, 167,859 laden TEUs were discharged at Port Houston in March, a 2.0% bump over the number of inbound loads processed the previous March but a 53.2% gain over the volume recorded in March 2019. Outbound loads (152,857 TEUs) were up 13.9% year-over-year as well as up 29.2% over March 2019. Total container traffic through the Texas gateway YTD (1,068,695 TEUs) represented a 54.0% increase over the first quarter of 2019.