United States - Container port traffic (TEU: 20 foot equivalent units)

The value for Container port traffic (TEU: 20 foot equivalent units) in United States was 54,963,690 as of 2020. As the graph below shows, over the past 20 years this indicator reached a maximum value of 55,518,880 in 2019 and a minimum value of 27,307,580 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 28,300,000
2001 27,307,580
2002 29,676,890
2003 32,689,480
2004 34,901,630
2005 38,497,840
2006 40,896,740
2007 44,839,390
2008 42,411,770
2009 37,353,580
2010 42,031,000
2011 42,550,780
2012 43,538,260
2013 44,340,860
2014 46,233,010
2015 47,886,450
2016 48,436,470
2017 52,132,840
2018 54,776,340
2019 55,518,880
2020 54,963,690

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