May 15, 2026
U.S. ports handled 2.16 million twenty-foot equivalent units in March
According to the latest data released by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Hackett Associates, U.S. ports covered by Global Port Tracker handled 2.16 million Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units - one 20-foot container or its equivalent - in March, the latest month for which final data is available. That was up 0.6% year over year and up 13.6% from February, when many Asian factories were closed for Lunar New Year celebrations and bad weather delayed the arrival of cargo at some U.S. ports.
Ports have not yet reported April numbers, but Global Port Tracker projected the month at 2.13 million TEU, down 3.6% year over year. May is forecast at 2.17 million TEU, up 11.1% year over year; June at 2.13 million TEU, up 8.2%; July at 2.2 million TEU, down 7.8%; August at 2.19 million TEU, down 5.5%, and September at 2.08 million TEU, down 1.3%.
Those numbers would bring the first half of 2026 to 12.59 million TEU, up 0.5% from the same period in 2025 thanks, in part, to the May-June increases.
Imports totaled 25.4 million TEU in 2025, down 0.3% from 25.5 million TEU in 2024.
Source: NRF