# America's largest port **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 31, 2005, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-largest-port/319479 "2005-08-31T20:14:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-largest-port/319479/1 "2005-08-31T20:14:35Z")
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.? ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-largest-port/319479/2 "2005-08-31T20:17:53Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Scruloose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@Scruloose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scruloose)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-largest-port/319479/3 "2005-08-31T20:33:14Z")
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](http://www.bts.gov/publications/national_transportation_statistics/2005/html/table_01_51.html) ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-largest-port/319479/4 "2005-08-31T20:33:19Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![brad\_d](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@brad\_d](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brad_d)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-largest-port/319479/5 "2005-08-31T21:38:20Z")
They don’t say what they base their ranking on (which is quite annoying), but the Port of Long Beach says on their [website](http://www.polb.com/html/1_about/overview.html) 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. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-largest-port/319479/6 "2005-09-01T08:11:14Z")
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… ---
**Author:** ![ColonelDax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@ColonelDax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ColonelDax)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-largest-port/319479/7 "2005-09-01T20:16:13Z")
[Here](http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0104779.html) 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.](http://portal.pohub.com/portal/page?_pageid=71,44823&_dad=pogprtl&_schema=POGPRTL), which owns a port at Nashville Avenue and also the Napoleon Avenue Container Terminal. ---
**Author:** ![Sassy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@Sassy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sassy)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-largest-port/319479/8 "2005-09-01T20:49:29Z")
From [Dyna Liners](http://www.dynamar.com/dynaliners.asp) : 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. ---
**Author:** ![ScoobyTX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@ScoobyTX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ScoobyTX)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-largest-port/319479/9 "2005-09-02T01:32:03Z")
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.