North America - Container port traffic (TEU: 20 foot equivalent units)

The value for Container port traffic (TEU: 20 foot equivalent units) in North America was 61,160,290 as of 2020. As the graph below shows, over the past 20 years this indicator reached a maximum value of 62,424,480 in 2019 and a minimum value of 30,197,960 in 2001.

Definition: Port container traffic measures the flow of containers from land to sea transport modes., and vice versa, in twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), a standard-size container. Data refer to coastal shipping as well as international journeys. Transshipment traffic is counted as two lifts at the intermediate port (once to off-load and again as an outbound lift) and includes empty units.

Source: UNCTAD (http://unctad.org/en/Pages/statistics.aspx)

See also:

Year Value
2000 31,227,940
2001 30,197,960
2002 32,984,200
2003 36,320,560
2004 38,827,780
2005 42,661,260
2006 45,226,900
2007 49,253,320
2008 47,132,430
2009 41,545,140
2010 46,729,980
2011 47,310,620
2012 48,654,520
2013 49,586,360
2014 51,663,620
2015 53,684,740
2016 54,179,390
2017 58,515,030
2018 61,551,160
2019 62,424,480
2020 61,160,290

Development Relevance: Transport infrastructure - highways, railways, ports and waterways, and airports and air traffic control systems - and the services that flow from it are crucial to the activities of households, producers, and governments. Because performance indicators vary widely by transport mode and focus (whether physical infrastructure or the services flowing from that infrastructure), highly specialized and carefully specified indicators are required to measure a country's transport infrastructure. The sea transport industry a vital engine of global socio-economic growth. It is of vital importance for economic development, creating direct and indirect employment, supporting tourism and local businesses, and stimulating foreign investment and international trade. Economic growth, technological change, market liberalization, and oil prices affect sea transport throughout the world.

Limitations and Exceptions: Measures of port container traffic, much of it commodities of medium to high value added, give some indication of economic growth in a country. But when traffic is merely transshipment, much of the economic benefit goes to the terminal operator and ancillary services for ships and containers rather than to the country more broadly. In transshipment centers empty containers may account for as much as 40 percent of traffic. Data cover coastal shipping as well as international journeys. Transshipment traffic is counted as two lifts at the intermediate port (once to off-load and again as an outbound lift) and includes empty units. Data for transport sectors are not always internationally comparable. Unlike for demographic statistics, national income accounts, and international trade data, the collection of infrastructure data has not been "internationalized."

Statistical Concept and Methodology: TEU is the standard unit, referring to 20-foot equivalent units or 20-foot-long cargo container. The size of cargo containers range from 20 feet long to more than 50 feet long. The international measure is the smallest box, the 20-footer or 20-foot-equivalent unit (TEU). Two twenty-foot containers (TEUs) equal one FEU. Container vessel capacity and port throughput capacity are frequently referred to in TEUs. 2015 and 2016 figures comprise estimates for countries where current year statistics were not available. In these cases, estimates include averages and extrapolations from previous years' data.

Aggregation method: Sum

Periodicity: Annual

Classification

Topic: Infrastructure Indicators

Sub-Topic: Transportation