10 American Journal of Transportation American Journal of Transportation ajot.com Discover how Conley Terminal is driving growth opportunities for 15 million consumers and over 2,500 businesses at ThePortofBoston.com. At Conley Container Terminal, we understand that exceptional customer service is the foundation of successful partnerships. Our owner/operator model enables us to deliver unparalleled service and flexibility for every customer, ensuring that your logistics operations are smooth and efficient. y Ranked in the top 5 most productive ports in the U.S., offering: • Over 35 weekly global connections, providing direct connectivity to China, Southeast Asia, Europe, the Mediterranean • Four weekly services, including the new MSC Dragon Service • 24/7 labor and berth availability • 19 possible start times, best-in-class for the East Coast • Industry-leading 30-minute truck turn times • Three new ship-to-shore cranes and a deep water berth • A dedicated freight haul corridor and a dredged Boston Harbor • Now handling 16,000 TEU vessels with the arrival of the MSC Verona At Conley Container Terminal, we understand that exceptional customer service is the foundation of successful partnerships. Our owner/operator model enables us to deliver unparalleled service and flexibility Ranke Ra Ove • O to C t • Four F 24/7 • 2 19 po • 1 • Indu I Thre • T CONNECTING NEWENGLAND TO THE WORLD Port of Boston: Efficiency the Key The Port of Boston’s Conley Terminal, operated by Massport, is New England’s largest container terminal. And efficiency and a lack of congestion coupled with a well-heeled consumer-base keeps ships calling. The Port of Boston is a niche container port with a market area largely in eastern New England and unsurprisingly concentrated in the metropolitan Boston area — a city concentrated in a relatively small area of 3,486 sq/miles but with a population of over 5 million and an estimated GDP over $645 billion, putting it in the top metro regions in the US. Nonetheless, the Port of Boston is in an unen- viable competitive location with the Canadian ports of Halifax 440-miles to the northeast, Montreal 308- miles to the northwest and the mega-port of New York/New Jersey — the largest East Coast port and third largest port in North America — just 220 miles to the southwest. Still the port has remained competitive, albeit considerably smaller than any of the three larger bracketing ports, by being efficient in truck turns and uncongested. But the problem facing the Port is remaining cost-effective while moving smaller vol- umes of boxes than larger ports — essentially reduc- ing the cost per move. In 2025 the Port of Boston handled 244,835 TEUs, slightly down on the 251,470 TEUs handled in 2024. Like other ports, enduring the tariff head- winds and coping with market shipping industry uncertainties dampened 2025. However, Asian trade was actually up a healthy 14% in 2025 over 2024, 168,781 TEUs to 147,499 TEUs. Part of the reason was import TEUs full were up 6% while export full TEUs were up 33%. However, on the North Europe trade lane full import TEUs were down 20% and full export TEUs off 37%. Overall, in 2025 import TEUs were off -4% at 123,237 TEUs while full export TEUs were flat, up 1% with 58,552 TEUs. In terms of trading partners, Asian countries had the highest share with China at 19% and Vietnam at 11% leading the way. The largest two trade partners from Europe were Italy and Germany at 3% and 2%, respectively. In the very early going of 2026, (January and February) the figures for the Port of Boston are up 44,514 TEUs compared to 38,315 TEUs, although this number is a little misleading as empty containers are up 85%: 15,816 TEUs to 8,528 TEUs. However, the com- bination of winter weather and Chi- nese New Year tends to dampen the early numbers in the first quarter. In 2025 the adjusted gross pro- ductivity (containers lifted by a ship-to- shore gantry crane per hour) for a ship- to-shore gantry crane at Conley Terminal ranged from around 27 to just over 29 lifts per hour. Obvi- ously, weather and the position of the containers within the vessel factors into the handling of containers. Nevertheless, 35-40 lifts per hour is considered to be top tier productivity on the East Coast. Another factor in port efficiency is truck turn times. The port’s turn times in 2025 run between 30 minutes to 37 min- utes (during some unusual weather-related periods a little higher) which is fairly good for a terminal like Conley. And the lack of congestion — virtually no wait times — also improves the overall containership ship call to the port. And the port boasts 19-start times per day, 7-days a week. Massport has put considerable time and money into restructuring Conley to make the terminal capable of handling the larger line haul container ships that are now regularly calling ports up and down the East Coast. Besides the work on the ter- minal itself, the main shipping channel has been deepened to 47-feet and the depth at the berths to 50-feet with the turning basin expanded to 1,725- feet. Last year on March 24th, 2025, the 16,196 TEU containership MSC Verona with its inaugural visit to Boston, which visibly demonstrated what Conley could handle. Port of Davisville — Little Port, Big Numbers The Port of Davisville, Rhode Island, located (HEADWAY – continued on page 11) (HEADWAY – continue from page 4) The MSC Aliya docked at the Port of Boston's Conley Terminal.
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