Cargo volumes remained strong at the Port of New York and New Jersey as summer drew to a close. Autos led the charge with 42,370 vehicles moving through the port in August, an 11.8 percent increase compared to August 2020. Auto volume from January through August was 28.1 percent greater than in the same period of 2020.  

Total volume at the Port of New York and New Jersey rose by 13.4 percent in August, posting 780,782 TEUs (433,022 lifts) compared to 688,365 TEUs (383,397 lifts) in August 2020. This increase brings our year through August total to 5,934,664 TEUs (3,293,908 lifts).  

Imports and exports also rose in August at the Port of New York and New Jersey. Import loads for August totaled 399,716 TEUs (221,820 lifts) versus 366,887 TEUs (203,641 lifts) in August 2020, an 8.9 percent increase. For the period of January through August, imported loads reached 3,034,841 TEUs (1,687,258 lifts) compared to 2,401,697 TEUs (1,355,812 lifts) in the same period of 2020, a 26.4 percent increase.  

Exports totaled 103,886 TEUs (56,382 lifts) in August versus 103,067 TEUs (56,961 lifts) in August 2020, an 0.8 percent increase in TEU volume. From January through August, exported loads at the Port of New York and New Jersey reached 914,296 TEUs (497,938 lifts) versus 865,419 TEUs (477,635 lifts) in the same period of 2020, a 5.6 percent increase. 

Export empties increased 27.3 percent, totaling 275,492 TEUs in August versus 216,430 TEUs in August 2020. From January through August, export empties totaled 1,968,237 TEUs, a 42.7 percent increase compared to the 1,379,344 TEUs posted in the same period of 2020. Import empties rose by 15.3 percent from January through August 2021 versus the same period in 2020. 

Rail volume decreased by 9.2 percent from the previous year’s August figure, totaling 58,931 containers for August 2021. Rail volume from January through August 2021 was 6.8 percent greater than in the same period of 2020.