New York and New Jersey Seaport Surges to Top of U.S. Rankings in May 2025

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As reported by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, May 2025 saw the port solidify its status as the busiest seaport in the U.S., handling an impressive 774,698 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units). This figure reflects a notable 20% increase from May 2019, prior to the pandemic. However, it does show a slight decrease of about 2% compared to May 2024’s exceptional numbers, wich were inflated due to cargo rerouted from Baltimore following the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse.Officials anticipated this minor dip since last year’s figures were unusually high due to those diverted shipments. Nevertheless, when comparing month-to-month performance, May 2025 still marked a healthy growth of about 3% over April of this year.

From January through May in 2025, the Port of New york and New Jersey processed a total of approximately 3.73 million TEUs. This represents a solid increase of around 6.5% compared to the same period in 2024 and an impressive rise of nearly 22.6% over five years ago—indicating robust long-term growth trends.

when stacked against competitors like Los Angeles and Long Beach ports on the West Coast—where Los Angeles managed only about 716,619 TEUs and Long Beach handled around 639,160 TEUs—the East Coast ports are clearly thriving despite challenges posed by tariffs on Chinese imports that have affected West Coast operations.

In Savannah, Georgia’s port also had a strong showing with its second-busiest May ever at roughly half a million containers processed—a milestone achieved for three consecutive months now.

On California’s coastlines though? Concerns linger regarding trade policies as officials noted that new tariffs have led to declines; Los Angeles experienced its first drop after ten months straight of growth with volumes down by about five percent year-over-year for May while long Beach faced an even steeper decline exceeding eight percent.

Despite these setbacks in California’s ports, there is cautious optimism among authorities following recent trade discussions between U.S. and Chinese officials aimed at easing restrictions on technology transfers and rare earth minerals—a move seen as potentially reducing ongoing tensions.

So far this year through May both Southern California ports remain ahead overall with each processing close to four million TEUs compared to New York/New Jersey’s figures which stand at around three point seven million during that same timeframe.simultaneously occurring within other sectors under their jurisdiction—the PATH commuter rail system has also been performing well! Actually it recorded its second-busiest month as pre-pandemic times with over five point four million passengers traveling in May alone—a seven percent uptick from last year—and reaching seventy-five percent recovery relative to ridership levels back in May twenty nineteen!

PATH’s weekday traffic averaged more than two hundred thousand passengers for two consecutive months while weekend numbers shone even brighter; Saturdays saw averages nearing one hundred twenty-two thousand riders—the second-highest total ever recorded for that month—while Sundays brought averages close behind at ninety-four thousand!

Overall PATH transported approximately twenty-four point one million passengers between January and May this year—a seven percent increase versus last year’s figures representing seventy-two percent recovery when looking back at early twenty nineteen levels!

Reference: panynj