Despite a challenging spring and summer and the most unusual of years, the Port of New York and New Jersey finished 2020 strong with double-digit cargo volume percentage growth in December. 

Total volume for December 2020 was 709,075 TEUs (394,889 lifts) versus 584,743 TEUs (330,856 lifts) in December 2019, a 21.3 percent increase. This brings our full-year 2020 volume to 7,585,819 TEUs (4,255,501 lifts), a 1.5 percent increase over 2019 TEU volume of 7,471,131 (4,238,107 lifts). 

Import loads (TEUs) were up 24 percent in December 2020 compared to December 2019, totaling 358,325 TEUs (199,628 lifts) versus 288,964 TEUs (163,238 lifts) the previous year. In 2020, import loads at the Port of New York and New Jersey reached 3,920,686 TEUs (2,199,066 lifts) compared to 3,770,971 TEUs (2,136,988 lifts) in 2019, a 4 percent increase. 

Export loads (TEUs) decreased by 6.2 percent in December 2020 versus December 2019, totaling 103,891 TEUs (57,374 lifts) versus 110,768 TEUs (61,446 lifts), a 6.2 percent decrease in TEU volume. For 2020, exported loads at the Port reached 1,321,043 TEUs (728,500 lifts) compared to 1,460,447 TEUs (808,090 lifts) in 2019, a 9.5 percent decrease.  

Rail volume increased 12.3 percent from the previous year’s figure, totaling 61,221 containers for December 2020. Rail volume in 2020 set a new record, totaling 705,895 containers, a 6.2 percent greater than 2019. 

Autos moved through the Port of New York and New Jersey totaled 60,962 in December, increasing 19.7 percent compared to December 2019. Auto volume for 2020 was down 17.6 percent from 2019. 

View monthly 2020 cargo volumes here.