Top 25 North American Ports
Special Report
Inbound tilt
US West Coast recovered import share amid East, Gulf coast labor woes
By Laura Robb
US West Coast ports regained some North American import market share last year, thanks in part to labor uncertainty at ports along the East and Gulf coasts that encouraged some shippers to shift their cargo to Pacific gateways.
The Port of Los Angeles maintained its position as the number one port for North American imports, with 15.5 % of the total market share— up from 14.7 % in 2023, according to PIERS, a sister product of the Journal of Commerce within S & P Global. The Port of Long Beach edged out the Port of New York and New Jersey to secure the secondlargest market share for North American imports last year, returning to second place with 13.7 % after two years of slipping to third.
Los Angeles brought in 5.35 million TEUs in imports last year, up 20.6 % compared with 2023. Similarly, Long Beach increased import volumes 24.4 % to 4.72 million TEUs. Volumes at New York-New Jersey rose 11.2 % to 4.43 million TEUs.
Overall, ports on the West Coast secured 49.8 % of North American import share last year, up from 47.8 % in 2023. The East Coast saw its share dip to 38.1 % from
40.6 % the year prior, while the Gulf Coast trimmed just under half a percentage point to 9 %.
Total North American imports jumped 14.3 % year over year to 34.57 million TEUs in 2024.
LA tops in exports, too
Meanwhile, the 2024 export market also saw some notable shifts in share. Los Angeles climbed into the top spot for outbound containers, handling 1.49 million TEUs, or 10.1 % of the total market, according to PIERS. That’ s the largest export market share for any single North American port since at least 2019.
The Port of Houston, which tied with Savannah for first place in exports in 2023, secured the second spot with 1.42 million TEUs, equal to 9.7 % of the market, in 2024. Savannah slipped to third with 1.37 million TEUs, or 9.3 % of the total export market.
The ports of New York-New Jersey and Long Beach took the fourth and fifth slots, respectively, with New York- New Jersey securing a 9.2 % share of the export market and Long Beach 8.2 %.
The export market share held by Atlantic ports moved down to 45.6 % last year from 47.9 % in 2023, while West Coast ports secured 35.5 % of outgoing shipments, up slightly from 35 % in 2023.
Gulf Coast ports moved 15.8 % of 2024 exports, down from 16.1 % in 2023.
In total, North American exports grew to 14.76 million TEUs in 2024, up 3.5 % from 2023.
email: laura. robb @ spglobal. com
Imports through the Port of LA( pictured) spiked 20.6 % in 2024, outpacing North American market growth of 14.3 %. Chizhevskaya Ekaterina / Shutterstock. com
28 Journal of Commerce | June 2, 2025 www. joc. com