The Port of Oakland handled 173,818 TEUs in August, with combined loaded imports and exports down 9% from August 2025 at 131,666 TEUs — even as full export volume posted a 2.9% gain over July.

The monthly figure marks the latest data point in a soft year for the Northern California gateway. Empty-container traffic, often read as a leading indicator of future imports, reached 42,152 TEUs in August, an 11.4% year-over-year decline. Vessel calls fell to 82 from 90 a year earlier, a drop of nearly 9% in scheduled services calling the port.

The divergence within the month is stark: month-over-month momentum on the export side, but a double-digit shortfall against the prior year on total loaded boxes.

What is driving the year-over-year decline?

For the first eight months of the year, Oakland's loaded cargo volume was down 2.5% from the same period in 2025. The decline was concentrated on the import side.

The year-to-date breakdown:

• Full import volume: down 4.6% from the first eight months of 2025
• Full export volume: up 0.2% year to date
• Empty-container movements: down 11.4% year to date

The pattern points to continuing pressure on the broader import-export market, particularly for second-tier West Coast gateways. Carriers have concentrated services at LA-Long Beach and shifted some vessel rotations to Canadian ports, squeezing smaller hubs like Oakland that depend on a steadier balance of inbound and outbound cargo.

The drop in vessel calls — eight fewer in August than a year earlier — reflects those network decisions. Fewer strings at the berth translate directly into less capacity for shippers routing cargo through the Bay Area, and fewer options for agricultural exporters who rely on the gateway's outbound reefer and dry cargo trades.

The August export gain from July indicates some month-to-month improvement for a gateway that leans heavily on agricultural and other export cargoes. But one month of sequential growth does little to offset the year-over-year slide in loaded traffic.

How is the port responding?

Acting Maritime Director Jason Garben said loaded volumes have been relatively stable so far this year, with export traffic running slightly ahead of the 2025 pace — consistent with the 0.2% year-to-date export increase in the port's own figures.

The port plans to work more closely with ocean carriers, shippers and terminal partners to identify new cargo opportunities and attract customers to the Oakland gateway, the port said. That outreach effort is aimed squarely at the carrier-consolidation trend that has redirected services to Southern California and Canada.

For shippers, the stakes are straightforward. Oakland's relative strength on exports — marginal but positive — preserves an outbound option that avoids drayage to LA-Long Beach. For carriers, the question is whether Bay Area cargo volumes justify restoring any of the strings cut over the past year. For forwarders, the 11.4% drop in empty repositioning through Oakland suggests carriers expect weaker inbound demand at the port in the months ahead.

The next set of monthly figures will show whether August's sequential export gain carries into the fall, or whether the year-over-year gap — 9% on loaded boxes in a single month — continues to widen for the gateway.