What is the largest port in the U.S.? I read in a Katrina-related thread that it’s New Orleans. But I thought that the Port of Los Angeles/Port of Long Beach complex was the largest. (Or is the complex considered two separate, smaller ports?)
What are the second, third, and fourth largest ports in the U.S.?
No answer, just explnations why it’s not so simple…how do you measure largest? Number of boats? Number of containers handled? Tonnage shipped? A similar issue exists with airports, with about half-a-dozen each having a “largest” claim, on differing terms.
As GorillaMan points out, it depends on how you define your terms, but here’s a list for total tons, both foreign and domestic: http://www.bts.gov/publications/national_transportation_statistics/2005/html/table_01_51.html
My 2005 World Almanac lists busiest ports ranked by tonnage handled, 2002, figures supplied by the Corps of Engineers.
The Port of South Louisiana is first by far, at 216,000,000. Houston, New York City and New Jersey, Beaumont TX, and New Orleans follow. Long Beach is 8th, Los Angeles is 12th but together they don’t come close to South Louisiana.
They don’t say what they base their ranking on (which is quite annoying), but the Port of Long Beach says on their website that:
[quote]
[ul]
[li]Long Beach is the United State’s second busiest port[/li][li]Long Beach is the world’s 12th busiest container cargo port[/li][li]If combined, the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles would be the world’s third-busiest port complex, after Hong Kong and Singapore[/ul][/li][/quote]
Obviously, business as a “port” and business as a “container cargo port” aren’t the same thing.
I have no idea whether or not any of these claims are true.
In my experience “busiest” in this context usually refers to the number of ship calls.
Granted, a totally rubbery concept, but for what it’s worth…
Here is a list of the world’s biggest ports as of 2003 according to both total cargo volume and TEUs, or 20-foot-equivalent units, a standard measure of capacity in the container-shipping business. (That’s the difference brad_d was getting at in noting that general-cargo ports and container ports are different animals.) South Louisiana ranked fifth in the world that year by the first measure.
Anyone heard anything specific about the extent of damage to port facilities at New Orleans? Just curious as my stocks include Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Co., which owns a port at Nashville Avenue and also the Napoleon Avenue Container Terminal.
From Dyna Liners :
The apparently rather unexpected flooding that followed devastating hurricane Katrina among many other facilities also hit the Napoleon Container Terminal at New Orleans. However, the four gantries were secured and seem to be intact. It is not yet clear if or when the terminal can be put into service again; the same applies to the inland infrastructure connecting it. In the
meantime, vessels may divert to other ports in the US Gulf, such as Houston. New Orleans’ total box throughput was 260,000 TEU in 2004. It is mainly geared towards Latin America trades, but also on the schedule of three Transatlantic loops.
Wow, three of the top ten (#2 Houston, #4 Beaumont, and #9 Texas City) plus a fourth not on the list (Galveston) are all on the same bay- Galveston Bay. All of the oceangoing shipping goes through the same pass (between Galveston Island and Bolivar Penninsula).
I guess if someone down there wants to merge the ports into one authority (like the Port Authority of NY/NJ, #3), then they’d shoot to the top of the list with at least 339 million tons of shipping.