U.S. Ranks Second in Maritime Container Traffic
Other findings of the BTS report: * Container traffic in the United States is becoming more concentrated as larger, faster and more specialized vessels call at the limited number of ports capable of handling them. The top 10 U.S. container ports accounted for 85 percent of U.S. containerized traffic in 2005, measured in TEUs, up from 78 percent in 1995.
* Over half, nearly 55 percent, of U.S. containerized merchandise trade in terms of TEUs passed through west coast ports in 2005, up from 42 percent in 1980.
* U.S. maritime ports are handling larger container vessels, measured by the average vessel size per call. The average size per call of container vessels calling at U.S. ports was nearly 45,000 deadweight tons (dwt) in 2005, up from 38,000 dwt in 2000.
* Overall, nearly 26 million containers of various sizes entered the United States by all modes of transportation in 2005, up 37 percent from 19 million in 2000. Of those containers, more than 15 million entered the nation by truck and rail from Canada and Mexico in 2005 while the remaining 11 million were oceanborne.