New York, Savannah or Los Angeles: where your container should arrive

The East Coast is Europe's home turf

For European goods the natural gateways are the East Coast ports: New York and New Jersey, Savannah, Charleston, Norfolk and Baltimore. Transit time from Northern Europe is ten to fifteen days and the shipping cost is the lowest. In customs data we see that the vast majority of Baltic-origin goods enter right here.

Savannah is the big riser of the past decade: a fast terminal, good rail connections and the growing industry of the southeast region. If your buyers are in the southeastern U.S., it is worth comparing it with New York.

When to consider something else

The West Coast means a longer and more expensive route for European goods and makes sense mainly when the customer is located there. The Gulf of Mexico ports, led by Houston, suit customers in Texas and the oil industry. The Great Lakes route via Montreal is a niche solution for the Midwest.

The rule is simple: the port is chosen by the buyer's location, not by habit. The wrong port can add a thousand dollars of inland transport per container.

Where to learn the buyer's location

In our database, for each importer you can see which ports their previous shipments arrive at. That tells you, even before the first email, which shipping route to offer. A small detail, but it is exactly such details that show the buyer you are easy to work with.