Freight - Marine

2023

Northwest Seaport Alliance experiences a decrease in containerized waterborne cargo in 2023

Washington's two largest ports in Seattle and Tacoma, which together form the Northwest Seaport Alliance, handled 3.0 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEU) of containerized cargo in 2023. This represents a 12.1% decline from 3.4 million TEUs in 2022. The reduction in containerized freight moving through Washington's largest ports is attributed to several factors, including:

• Changes in exchange rate that make imports more attractive than exports, and
• Ongoing tariffs in key markets

In 2023, the top 10 trading countries shipping to and from Seattle and Tacoma ports were all in Asia, representing more than 93% of all business. China, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam and Taiwan were the top trade partners. Furniture and machinery represent the highest number of imports, while agricultural products are the leading exports.

2022

Northwest Seaport Alliance experiences a decrease in containerized waterborne cargo in 2022

Washington's two largest ports in Seattle and Tacoma, collectively known as the Northwest Seaport Alliance, handled 3.4 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEU) of containerized cargo in 2022. This was a 9.4% decrease from 3.7 million TEUs in 2021. The decrease in containerized freight moving through Washington's largest ports is attributed to several factors, including:

• Monetary exchange rate changes that benefit imports over exports
• Ongoing tariffs in key markets, and
• Outbound sailings that are returning to overseas ports without cargo to reduce travel times and more quickly return with imports, rather than carrying exports from the United States.

Approximately 72% of waterborne freight shipped in Washington in 2022 was foreign

In 2022, the most recent data available, approximately 107.2 million tons of waterborne freight were shipped in Washington, down 8.2% from 116.8 million tons in 2021. Waterborne freight is categorized as foreign, domestic, or intrastate (with both origin and destination in Washington).

International exports comprised 52.8% of waterborne freight in 2022 and 18.8% were international imports. Domestic shipments accounted for 24.2% and the remaining 4.2% was intrastate freight. Foreign freight activity decreased 9.5% from 84.7 million tons in 2021 to 76.7 million tons in 2022.

Domestic marine freight activity increased 7.7% from 24.1 million tons in 2021 to 26 million tons in 2022. Marine freight activity within the state fell 43.1% from 8 million tons to 4.5 million tons due to significant decreases in interstate shipment of lumber and sand & gravel, which accounted for a drop of 3.4 million tons. Sand and gravel production diminished by almost 84%, while lumber decreased by 42%.

The top commodities shipped to, from and within Washington state by water included food and food products (such as grain, oilseeds, and other agricultural products) accounted for 41.2% of commodities. Petroleum products made up 13.4% and crude petroleum comprised 13.8% of shipments. Between 2021 and 2022, the quantities of both petroleum products and crude petroleum shipped increased by 5.8% and 21%, respectively. However, food-related products dropped by 11.5% over the same period.

2021

Northwest Seaport Alliance sees an increase in containerized waterborne cargo in 2021

In 2021, the Northwest Seaport Alliance (which includes the merged marine cargo operations from the ports of Seattle and Tacoma) handled 3.74 million 20-foot equivalent units of containerized cargo.

This was a 12.5% increase from 3.32 million TEUs in 2020. This increase in containerized freight moving through Washington's largest ports is indicative of the slowly recovering economy.

Approximately 73% of waterborne freight shipped in Washington in 2021 was categorized as foreign.

In 2021, the most recent data available, approximately 116.8 million tons of waterborne freight were shipped in Washington, up 6.5% from 109.7 million tons in 2020. Waterborne freight is categorized as foreign, domestic, or intrastate (with both origin and destination in Washington).

International exports comprised 56% of waterborne freight in 2021 and 16.6% were international imports. Domestic shipments accounted for 20.6% and the remaining 6.8% was intrastate freight. Foreign freight activity increased 6.1% from 79.9 million tons in 2020 to 84.7 million tons in 2021.

Domestic freight activity increased 12.6% from 21.4 million tons in 2020 to 24.1 million tons in 2021. Intrastate freight activity decreased 4.8% from 8.4 million tons to 8.0 million tons.

The top commodities shipped to, from and within Washington state by water included food and food products (such as grain, oilseeds, and other agricultural products). Petroleum products made up 11.6% and crude petroleum comprised 10.5% of shipments. Between 2020 and 2021, the quantities of both petroleum products and crude petroleum shipped increased by 7.6% and 33.8%, respectively. Food-related products increased by less than 1% over the same period.

2020

Northwest Seaport Alliance sees a decrease in containerized waterborne cargo in 2020

In 2020, the Northwest Seaport Alliance (which includes the merged marine cargo operations from the ports of Seattle and Tacoma) handled 3.32 million 20-foot equivalent units of containerized cargo. This was a 12.2% drop from 3.78 million TEUs in 2019. This decline in containerized freight volume at these ports—the largest in Washington state—was primarily due to the disruptions in normal shipping activity caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the continuing tariff war with China.

Approximately 73% of waterborne freight shipped in Washington in 2020 was categorized as foreign

Domestic freight activity decreased 10.6% from 23.9 million tons in 2019 to 21.4 million tons in 2020, while intrastate freight activity increased 0.9% from 8.3 million tons to 8.4 million tons (refer to chart below).

The top commodities shipped to, from and within Washington state by water include food and food products (such as grain, oilseeds and other agricultural products).

Petroleum products made up 11.5% and crude petroleum comprised 8.3% of shipments. Between 2019 and 2020, the quantities of both petroleum products and crude petroleum shipped decreased by 17.5% and 26.8%, respectively. Food/ kindred products increased by 10.2% over the same period.

2019

Ports of Seattle and Tacoma see a small decrease in containerized waterborne cargo in 2019

In 2019, the ports of Seattle and Tacoma (which merged their marine cargo operations into the Northwest Seaport Alliance in 2015) handled a combined 3.78 million 20-foot equivalent units of containerized cargo—a 0.6% drop from 3.80 million TEUs in 2018. This decline in containerized freight volume was the first these ports had experienced since 2014, and is primarily attributed to the ongoing tariffs on trade with China.

The ports of Seattle and Tacoma, which are by far the largest ports in Washington state, handled an average of 3.68 million TEUs of freight each year from 2015 through 2019. Despite the decline in freight volume in 2019, this average remains higher than the 2014-2018 average, because these ports handled more freight in 2019 than in 2014.

Over 71% of waterborne freight shipped in Washington in 2019 was categorized as foreign

In 2019, approximately 112.4 million tons of waterborne freight were shipped in Washington, down 9.5% from 124.2 million tons in 2018. This decrease in waterborne freight activity was due primarily to declines in international exports of food and food products, and in international imports of petroleum.

Waterborne freight is categorized as foreign, domestic or intrastate (with both origin and destination in Washington). In 2019, 55% of waterborne freight was international export and 16.3% was international import. Domestic shipment accounted for 21.3% and the remaining 7.4% was intrastate freight.

Foreign freight activity decreased 11.6% from 90.6 million tons in 2018 to 80.1 million tons in 2019. Domestic freight activity decreased 6.1% from 25.4 million tons in 2018 to 23.9 million tons in 2019, while intrastate freight activity increased 2.3% from 8.15 million tons to 8.34 million tons.

The top commodities shipped to, from and within Washington state by water include food and food products (such as grain, oilseeds and other agricultural products), petroleum products and crude petroleum. In 2019, food and food products comprised 40.0% of the state's total waterborne freight shipped, which was mostly exported to foreign markets. Petroleum products made up 13.6% and crude petroleum comprised 11.1%. The quantities of both food/food products and petroleum products shipped decreased from 2018 to 2019 by 11.1% and 1.8%, respectively. Crude petroleum deceased by 9.0% over the same period.