Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS)
Printable Version

Table 1 - Top 50 U.S. Freight Gateways, Ranked by Value of Shipments: 2003 (Current $, billions)

Excel | CSV

Rank Port name Mode Total
U.S. trade
Exports Imports Exports as
% of total
1 Port of Los Angeles, CA Water 122 17 105 13.8
2 JFK International Airport, NY Air 112 47 65 41.7
3 Port of Detroit, MI Land 102 55 47 53.5
4 Port of New York and New Jersey Water 101 24 77 24.0
5 Port of Long Beach, CA Water 96 17 79 17.9
6 Port of Laredo, TX Land 79 32 46 41.1
7 Los Angeles International Airport, CA Air 64 33 31 51.1
8 Port Huron, MI Land 62 23 40 36.4
9 Port of Buffalo-Niagara Falls, NY Land 59 27 32 46.1
10 Chicago, IL Air 54 21 34 37.9
11 Port of Houston, TX Water 50 21 28 43.0
12 San Francisco International Airport, CA Air 47 21 26 44.1
13 Port of Charleston, SC Water 39 13 26 34.0
14 Port of El Paso, TX Land 39 17 22 42.6
15 Port of Norfolk Harbor, VA Water 29 11 18 37.4
16 New Orleans, LA Air 27 14 14 50.0
17 Port of Tacoma, WA Water 26 5 21 19.8
18 Port of Baltimore, MD Water 26 6 20 21.9
19 Port of Oakland, CA Water 25 8 17 30.9
20 Dallas-Fort Worth, TX Air 24 11 12 48.3
21 Port of Seattle, WA Water 23 6 17 24.6
22 Miami International Airport, FL Air 23 14 9 61.5
23 Anchorage, AK Air 22 6 16 25.5
24 Port of Savannah, GA Water 21 7 14 34.7
25 Port of Otay Mesa Station, CA Land 20 8 11 42.0
26 Port of New Orleans, LA Water 19 11 8 57.9
27 Cleveland, OH Air 19 10 9 51.3
28 Atlanta, GA Air 18 8 10 45.6
29 Port of Miami, FL Water 17 7 10 41.1
30 Port of Champlain-Rouses Point, NY Land 14 5 9 36.2
31 Port of Hidalgo, TX Land 14 6 8 43.6
32 Newark, NJ Air 13 3 10 20.1
33 San Juan International Airport, PR Air 12 5 7 42.4
34 Port of Blaine, WA Land 12 5 7 43.6
35 Port of Portland, OR Water 12 3 9 25.1
36 Port of Jacksonville, FL Water 11 2 9 20.8
37 Port Everglades, FL Water 10 4 6 41.4
38 Port of Nogales, AZ Land 10 4 7 34.2
39 Port of Philadelphia, PA Water 10 1 10 6.1
40 Port of Morgan City, LA Water 10 0 10 1.8
41 Port of Brownsville, TX Land 10 5 5 51.5
42 Port of Alexandria Bay, NY Land 10 4 6 38.2
43 Port of Corpus Christie, TX Water 10 2 8 19.8
44 Port of Beaumont, TX Water 10 1 9 9.9
45 Port of Pembina, ND Land 9 5 4 53.1
46 Boston Logan Airport, MA Air 9 6 3 62.0
47 Port of Calexico-East, CA Land 9 4 5 42.4
48 Philadelphia International Airport, PA Air 9 5 4 53.8
49 Port of Sweetgrass, MT Land 7 4 4 48.1
50 Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, WA Air 7 4 3 56.8
  Total, top 50 gateways   1,587 576 1,011 36.3
  Total, U.S. merchandise trade
by all modes
  1,983 724 1,259 36.5
  Top 50 gateways as share of
U.S. total (percent)
  80.0 79.6 80.3  

Notes: All data—Trade levels reflect the mode of transportation as a shipment enters or exits a U.S. Customs port. Flows through individual ports are based on reported data collected from U.S. trade documents. Low-value shipments (imports less than $1,250 and exports less than $2,500) and intransit shipments are not included in trade data. Air—Data for all airports are based on U.S. port classifications and include a low level (generally less than 2% to 3% of the total value) of small user-fee airports located in the same region. Air gateways not identified by airport name include major airports in that geographic area in addition to small regional airports. Also due to U.S. Census Bureau confidentiality regulations, data for some of the air gateways include courier operations. For example, data for New Orleans International Airport, include FedEx air cargo activity in Memphis, TN.

Sources: Air—U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau, Foreign Trade Division, special tabulation, August 2004. Water—U.S. Department of Transportation, Maritime Administration, Office of Statistical and Economic Analysis, special tabulations from Waterborne Databank, August 2004. Land—U.S. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Transborder Surface Freight Data as of August 2004.