Port Warehouse Vacancy Hits 7.7% as Imports Shift Inland

Warehouse vacancy rates near U.S. seaports rose 20 basis points to 7.7% through July, climbing above year-end 2025 levels and overshooting the national industrial vacancy rate of 6.8%, according to Cushman & Wakefield's report "From Port to Property: Resilient Import Volumes Amid Shifting Trade Patterns and Industrial Demand."

The paradox at the center of the data: imports at 10 major U.S. maritime ports grew 0.5% year over year through July, surpassing 14.5 million TEUs. Monthly container volumes cleared 2 million TEUs in each of May, June and July. Goods keep arriving — but fewer of them sit in warehouses next to the docks where they land.

Where is the cargo going instead?

Inland markets captured 83% of U.S. industrial net absorption in the first half of 2026, their highest share since 2010. Cushman & Wakefield attributes the migration to three cost levers: labor, rent and energy all run cheaper in inland markets than in port-adjacent ones.

A second structural force compounds the shift. Rising imports from Mexico flow into distribution facilities served directly by truck and rail, bypassing U.S. maritime ports altogether. That trade lane change removes demand for portside storage that vessel-borne imports would otherwise generate.

"Cargo volumes tell only part of the warehouse demand story," said Jason Price, Head of Americas Logistics & Industrial Research at Cushman & Wakefield. "Goods continue to arrive, but where companies choose to store and distribute them is changing. Inland markets offer cost advantages, while imports arriving through Mexico can move directly into inland distribution networks. At the same time, port markets are still absorbing space delivered during the construction boom."

What does this mean for shippers and landlords?

For shippers and 3PLs, softening portside demand translates into negotiating leverage. Landlords near ports face a 90-basis-point vacancy gap against the national average while still digesting the supply delivered during the construction boom Price references — a combination that historically pushes concessions, not headline rents, in tenants' favor.

For port-market landlords and developers, the report's framing is blunt: the oversupply of new warehouse space near seaports now competes with structurally cheaper inland alternatives. Occupiers voting with their feet — 83% of net absorption — signal that the distribution map is being redrawn, not merely repriced.

The report credits shifting distribution networks and that oversupply as the two drivers behind the vacancy climb, even as overall leasing activity improves.

What could break the trend?

Cushman & Wakefield flags risks to even the improving segments. Inflation, elevated interest rates and rising energy prices could constrain consumer spending and occupier demand alike, while further changes in trade policy could redirect cargo flows and upend distribution decisions once again — a caveat that cuts both ways for port and inland markets.

The vacancy gap and the Mexico-driven inland surge suggest portside absorption will stay under pressure until the construction-boom supply is fully leased and trade patterns settle.