The top US seaport continued to evolve this year as canceled sailings, stuck vessels, and reduced cargo volumes hampered shipping. But despite those (relative) setbacks, the sector is on the path for continued success in 2023, according to a new report rom Cushman & Wakefield.

The volume of loaded twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) passing through the nine ports reviewed by Cushman increased by 9.9% year-over-year. All told, those nine markets markets ended  Q3 with an overall vacancy rate of just 2.3%, "significantly lower" than the national average of 3.7%.

"Despite low vacancy, activity was strong as 220.2 million square feet were absorbed from these markets in 2021 and 115.4 million square feet year-to-date," the report notes. "Moreover, there were 260.2 million square feet under construction in industrial markets near these nine seaports alone."