14 November 2011
The Port of Los Angeles handles more import-export trade in dollar terms than any of the nation’s roughly 465 airports, seaports and border crossings, according to WorldCity analysis of the most recent U.S. Census Bureau data.
That’s not news, since it regularly tops the rankings, but the Port of Houston climbed two positions compared to the same period last year, to rank No. 3 behind New York’s JFK International Airport. Also making news is the border crossing at Laredo, Texas, also moved up two positions to rank No. 5.
The Port of Los Angeles, in fact, dominates a number of measures of trade, ranking No. 1 in container weight and container value.
In terms of tonnage, containerized or not, the Port of Houston – which encompasses terminals for oil companies, refineries and others under its statistical banner – ranks No. 1 in the nation.
Rounding out the nation’s top 10 ports of entry, after the Port of Los Angeles, JFK and Houston, is the Port of Newark at No. 4; Laredo; Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport at No. 6; the border crossing at Detroit at No. 7; the Port of Long Beach, Calif., at No. 8; Port Huron near Detroit at No. 9; and the border crossing at Buffalo in upstate New York rounding out the top 10.
In terms of tonnage, after the top-ranked Port of Houston, comes a list of seaports, most of them handling oil.
At No. 2 is New Orleans; followed by the Port of Los Angeles; the Port of Gramercy, outside New Orleans, at No. 4; Newark at No. 5; the Port of Corpus Christi, Texas, at No. 6; the Port of Morgan City, also outside New Orleans, at No. 7; Long Beach; Port Arthur, Texas, at No. 9; and the Port of Philadelphia at No. 10.
When looking at the weight of container traffic, the list shifts to include some new names. The Port of Los Angeles remains No. 1 and Newark is still No. 2, but the Port of Savannah jumps to No. 3 followed by Long Beach at No. 4. No. 5 is Houston, followed by the Port of New York at No. 6, the Port of Oakland at No. 7, the Port of Norfolk, Va., at No. 8, the Port of Seattle at No. 9 and the Port of Charleston at No. 10.
Looking airport cargo in terms of dollar value, JFK ranks No. 1 followed by international airports at Chicago O’Hare, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, San Francisco, Dallas-Fort Worth, Anchorage, Cleveland and Atlanta.
In terms of tonnage, the first two are the same but Miami jumps ahead of Los Angeles into the No. 3 position and Atlanta jumps from No. 10 to No. 5, behind LAX. No. 6 is New Orleans, followed by Anchorage, San Francisco, Cleveland and Dallas-Fort Worth.
Airports shine is one area, relative to seaports, and that is in trade surpluses. A number of airports, seaports and border crossing have trade surpluses, however, Five of the top 10 trade surpluses of the more than 400 ports are with airports, after the Port of New York at No. 1.
No. 2 is Miami International, No 4 is the Seattle-Tacoma Airport, No. 6 is the Salt Lake City International Airport, No. 7 is Cleveland International and No. 8 is JFK in New York.
Also in the top 10 are the border crossing at Detroit, at No. 3; the seaport at Everett, Washington, just north of Seattle, at No. 5; the border crossing at Blaine, Washington, at No. 9; and the Port of Houston, No. 10.