Figure 15 Maritime Container Entries into the United States: 2000-2007

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Millions of container units of all sizes)

Spotlight 2: Maritime Security

Importers are required to provide the following 10 data elements:

Gateways for Inbound and Outbound Traffic

While America's container ports serve as gateways for both merchandise imports and exports, overall they handle more TEUs of imports than exports. In 2009, the U.S. deficit in maritime container traffic—the gap between exports and imports—...

Figure 17 Average Age of Vessels Per Call at U.S. Ports: 2004 and 2009

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Figure 14 Vessel Calls at U.S. Seaports: 2002-2009

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Port Concentration

Since 1995, container activity at U.S. seaports has shown a greater concentration of vessel calls and cargo traffic in a few leading ports because of increased use of larger, faster, and more specialized vessels. Modern post-Panamax vessels are longer than two football...

Regional Shifts in Port Market Share

The increased use of oceanborne containers in transporting U.S. international trade continues to affect port operations and the distribution of total maritime trade among U.S. ports. Before the mid-1980s, east coast ports handled the majority of U.S....

What's in the Box?

Modern containers carry numerous commodities, from sweaters, blouses, and flat-screen televisions to computer equipment, wood, and paper products. Containers have reduced the cost of safely transporting such goods as children's toys, clothing, and electronics from factories...

Vessel Calls and Capacity

Between 2004 and 2009, the number of containership calls at U.S. ports has remained fairly steady, averaging about 18,000 per year. By contrast, container capacity of the calling vessels grew by 19 percent during this same period, from 59 million to 70 million TEUs....

Figure 15 Average Containership Size Per Call at U.S. Ports: 2002-2009

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