Seattle, WA

The Ports of Seattle and Tacoma operate their container business together as the Northwest Seaport Alliance, effectively functioning as one regional gateway. The combined Seattle-Tacoma complex handled about 3.16 million TEUs in 2025, making it roughly the sixth-largest U.S. container gateway. Its location gives it particularly strong trade connections with Asia, especially China, Japan, Vietnam, South Korea, and Taiwan, creating a large flow of international 20ft, 40ft, and 40ft high cube containers through terminals, depots, warehouses, and distribution facilities across the Puget Sound region.

Seattle’s container traffic is also unusually rail-intensive because the gateway provides a relatively short trans-Pacific route combined with direct transcontinental rail service. BNSF and Union Pacific connect the Seattle-Tacoma terminals with inland markets through nine on-dock or near-dock intermodal rail yards and more than 40 weekly train departures. The region also handles substantial domestic container traffic with Alaska, adding another major flow of container equipment alongside international cargo. This combination of Asian trade, extensive intermodal rail infrastructure, and significant domestic marine traffic creates a large and diverse supply of shipping containers throughout the Seattle market. Used shipping container prices in Seattle tend to be on the higher end of the spectrum for the West Coast, but still below average for the country. Western Container Sales guarantees we’ll always have the best price on used shipping containers in Seattle.