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Yearlong trade shifts and port responses
In 2025 U.S. ports navigated a volatile mix of redirected cargo, tariff-driven timing changes and route disruptions caused by conflicts and chokepoint variability. Importers pulled goods forward early in the year to avoid tariff changes, while carriers reworked schedules and leaned on reliable trans-Pacific lanes as other global waterways became less predictable.
Those forces created month-to-month spikes and lulls in container flows, yet major gateways largely avoided the severe congestion that marked earlier cycles thanks to upgrades, inland connections and improved visibility across supply chains.
Container flow patterns and empties growth
Analysts recorded a widening imbalance between imports and exports in 2025, with empty containers claiming a larger share of throughput. Drewry Maritime Advisors director Dinesh Sharma noted empties rose from 30.1% of the top-10 port total in 2024 to about 31.1% through late November 2025, pressuring handling metrics even where loaded volumes were stable.
Top gateway volumes and year-over-year comparisons
Descartes Datamyne ranked Los Angeles and Long Beach as the largest U.S. container gateways in 2025, with Los Angeles handling 4.69 million TEUs and Long Beach 4.15 million TEUs. Both fell short of their 2024 totals (5.36 million and 4.69 million TEUs respectively). New York/Newark remained third at 3.56 million TEUs, down from 4.16 million in 2024.
Savannah moved 2.46 million TEUs in 2025 versus 2.73 million in 2024, and Houston handled 1.71 million TEUs compared with 1.89 million the prior year. Norfolk, Charleston, Oakland, Tacoma and Seattle also reported lower 2025 totals than in 2024, reflecting a broader national pattern of softer import volumes against a higher 2024 baseline.
Regional performance differences across the coasts
Descartes industry strategy director Jackson Wood said total U.S. import volume for January through November 2025 rose modestly—about 0.6%—compared with the same period in 2024, but with greater volatility during the year likely tied to shifting trade policy.
West Coast ports retained leadership in import market share, accounting for roughly 44.2% of total import share as shippers favored shorter, more reliable trans-Pacific routings. East Coast ports faced headwinds from Suez/Red Sea disruptions and Panama Canal variability, which suppressed their market share. Gulf Coast volumes showed pronounced month-to-month swings, and overall coast-level share and volumes were largely flat versus 2024.
Monthly and year-to-date comparisons for West and East Coast gateways
Sharma noted West Coast ports—Los Angeles, Long Beach, Oakland and Seattle-Tacoma—performed poorly in October 2025 on a year-over-year basis: total loaded imports fell 12.8%, loaded exports dropped 2.8% and total handling declined 11.0%. He cautioned that comparisons were skewed because the Pacific benefited from cargo diverted there ahead of fourth-quarter 2024 strike risks at East and Gulf ports.
On a year-to-date basis the same West Coast group posted loaded imports up 0.8%, loaded exports down 3.5% and total handling up 2.0%. East Coast ports collectively reported loaded imports up 6.9% year over year and 4.5% year to date, loaded exports up 0.2% year over year and down 0.4% year to date, with total volumes up 7.4% year over year and 4.7% year to date.
Seasonality, tariff timing and operational stability
Paul Bingham, director of transportation consulting at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said tariff timing altered the customary import rhythm in 2025, producing an unusually strong first quarter as shippers pulled cargo forward. That front-loaded demand moved the traditional peak season earlier and helped create softer volumes late in the year.
Despite those schedule changes, ports on the West, East and Gulf coasts handled volumes without major disruption in 2025. Bingham cited the lack of landfall hurricanes, coastal labor disputes and fresh overseas shocks beyond trade-policy moves, plus adequate vessel capacity and steady inland operations, as factors that preserved cargo fluidity.
Investments in capacity and terminal modernization
Ports continued investing in new capacity and upgrades. Savannah stood out for simultaneous berth expansion and inland reach projects: the first berth at the Ocean Terminal was completed in 2025 and a second berth is expected in mid-2026. The Blue Ridge Connector inland rail facility, roughly 50 miles from Atlanta, is slated to open in spring 2026 to strengthen Savannah’s hinterland connections.
Operators pressed ahead on equipment and energy enhancements. APM Terminals finished modernization work at Port Elizabeth (N.J.) and at Los Angeles, adding taller cranes to better handle larger ships. Port Newark Container Terminal completed a 7.2-megawatt solar canopy that now supplies about half of the terminal’s annual electricity demand, and partners are evaluating similar renewable projects at Long Beach and Baltimore.
Rail projects and additional capacity coming online
New intermodal rail capacity helped keep system fluidity even when import volumes peaked. Bingham highlighted planned additions coming online in 2026, including the Leatherman Rail Facility serving the Port of Charleston, which is expected to reduce congestion risk by expanding rail throughput.
Data, digital tools and predictive systems
Port operators leaned further into digital tools in 2025 to manage uncertainty. Expanded visibility and data-sharing systems gave shippers real-time insight into volumes, transit times and emerging bottlenecks, allowing routing changes before delays accumulated.
Community information systems improved coordination across vessel arrivals, terminal operations and on-dock rail, while machine learning models helped predict dwell time by consignee, manage yard space and tighten links between truck appointments and terminal operating systems. Analysts said these technology upgrades have material potential to boost productivity, gate turns and yard utilization.
Port-level operating nuances and Houston’s performance
As the only Gulf port in the U.S. top 10, Houston continued to outpace many peers despite lower TEU import totals. While Descartes Datamyne shows Houston moved 1.71 million TEUs in 2025 compared with 1.89 million in 2024, the port’s operating metrics through October indicated total handling up 6.0%, loaded exports rising 9.6% and loaded imports increasing 3.1%—underscoring different pictures between TEU tallies and terminal-level performance.
Advice for shippers and outlook for 2026
Analysts expect ongoing tariff and trade-policy uncertainty to keep influencing sourcing decisions and demand patterns into 2026, and Middle East instability could maintain pressure for alternative routings and longer transit times. Experts recommend shippers diversify port strategies, use robust analytics and keep flexible contingency plans to adapt to evolving conditions.
Sharma warned shippers to anticipate periodic port congestion, disruption and potential overcapacity, and to monitor cost exposures such as demurrage. He added that a likely resumption of normal Suez Canal transits in 2026 could introduce both operational and cost risks. Bingham similarly forecast continued landed-cost volatility until trade-policy clarity improves and said shifting country sourcing will alter supply-and-demand balances that carriers will respond to with service adjustments.
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