Oakland, CA

Oakland is one of the largest container gateways on the U.S. West Coast and has an unusually balanced mix of imports and exports. The Port of Oakland handled about 2.25 million TEUs in 2025, placing it among the top 10 U.S. container ports and roughly eighth among major U.S. container gateways. Unlike many large ports that are heavily import-oriented, Oakland’s 2025 traffic was almost evenly divided between imports and exports, creating consistent movement of 20ft, 40ft, and 40ft high cube containers in both directions.

Oakland is also an important export gateway for Northern California agriculture and other products moving to Asian markets. The port has four container terminals and two adjacent intermodal rail facilities served by BNSF and Union Pacific, allowing containers to transfer efficiently between ships, rail, trucks, warehouses, and transload facilities. Its 50-foot shipping channels can accommodate some of the world’s largest container ships, while the combination of strong export demand and extensive rail infrastructure creates a large and steady pool of marine shipping containers throughout the Oakland market. Due to the volume of freight running through the Port of Oakland, the Bay Area has some of the lowest prices on used shipping containers in the country.