"Ahead of preparation for the holiday shopping season, U.S. retailers continued to draw from their overstock of inventory that was delivered during the record cargo surge over the past two years," the port said in a press release.

The port also saw cargo activity drop 8.6% compared to July 2023 figures, when volumes reached 725,479 total TEUs. Compared to pre-pandemic figures, the East Coast port saw volumes fall 3% compared to August 2019.

Despite the comparative declines, the port authority said the seaport had handled 2.7% more volumes year-to-date by August than it did in 2019.

Cargo volumes by the numbers

Container volumes processed at the Port of New York and New Jersey in August 2023