Source: Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
While the New York metropolitan area houses 20 million people, an extra 80 million can be reached within 24 hours, making the direct market area of the port of New York the largest in North America and one of the most extensive in the world. This market density is thus significant, as approximately 55% of the U.S. population resides within 700 miles of the port. Under such circumstances, the late 1990s witnessed an impressive growth in container traffic for New York, in line with the significant expansion of the American economy.
Still, the rank of New York among the world’s largest container ports continued to decline to the 23rd position in 2015. Its national share has also improved since 2000, as the Port of New York/New Jersey accounted for 13.5% of all containers handled by American ports and for 59% of all containers on the North Atlantic coast. The changes in the average TEU per container handled are also revealing and indicate that the average box size is increasing. Import-based ports typically import more 40-foot containers (including high-cube containers) than standard 20-foot containers.