NWSA November volumes fall
Northwest Seaport Alliance Reports Modest November Container Volume Decline Amid Sector-Wide Challenges
The Northwest Seaport Alliance (NWSA) released its November 2025 statistics, showing a total container volume of 253,532 TEUs. This figure represents a 12.6% decrease compared to November 2024, though it indicates a positive 8.4% increase from October 2025.
Digging deeper into international trade, full container imports experienced a significant year-on-year decline of 19.4%, with full exports also falling by 16.9%. Cumulatively, year-to-date (YTD) container volumes have reached 2,918,676 TEUs, marking a 3.9% decrease from the same period in 2024.
In contrast, domestic container volumes demonstrated resilience, improving by 2.5% compared to YTD 2024. This growth was driven by a 1.5% increase in volumes to and from Alaska and a notable 7.7% rise for Hawaii.
Breakbulk cargo volumes saw a healthy month-over-month increase of 10.2%. However, YTD breakbulk volumes have declined by 16.6% to 303,162 metric tons. This reduction is attributed to ongoing impacts from tariffs and elevated interest rates. Auto cargo units also saw a month-over-month gain of 2.6%. Despite this, YTD auto volumes stand at 249,251 units, down 20.3% year-on-year, reflecting slower nationwide auto sales.
In recognition of operational excellence, the NWSA also announced the inaugural winners of its Voyage Consistency & On-Time Arrival Award Program. The Gemini Cooperation’s WC4 | TP5 service, operated by Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk, secured first place with an outstanding record of zero void sailings and an average arrival time of just eight hours past its scheduled departure. The Premier Alliance PN3 service (HMM, ONE, Yang Ming) achieved second place, followed by Swire Shipping’s Westwood service in third.