State of U.S. Imports: Q1 2020

U.S. ocean import activity from January 2020 through March 2020, from U.S. Customs bill of lading records.

Sourced from U.S. Customs bill of lading data · Updated monthly · Data through August 2026

Key findings

U.S. ocean imports totaled 1,861,287 shipments in Q1 2020.
The highest-volume import category was Wine of fresh grapes, including fortified wines, sparkling wine (HS 220410), with 18,537 shipments.
CHINA was the largest origin country with 512,101 shipments — 27.5% of all U.S. ocean imports.
The busiest U.S. port of entry was NEW YORK/NEWARK AREA, NEWARK, NJ, receiving 352,442 shipments.
The largest importer by shipment count was IKEA SUPPLY AG, with 22,258 shipments.

Shipments

1,861,287

Containers

2,549,509

Quarter over quarter

N/A

not available — dataset begins Jan 2020

Year over year

N/A

not available — dataset begins Jan 2020

Monthly shipment volume

684,830

January 2020

583,343

February 2020

593,114

March 2020

Top import categories

Product (HS code)	Shipments	QoQ
Wine of fresh grapes, including fortified wines, sparkling wine220410	18,537	N/A
Other wooden furniture940360	17,011	N/A
Parts of air conditioning machines, comprising a motor-driven fan and elements for changing the temperature and humidity, including those machines in which the humidity cannot be separately regulated841590	15,638	N/A
Furniture of plastics940370	13,530	N/A
Not knitted or crocheted, of cotton630492	12,458	N/A
Roofing tiles, chimney pots, cowls, chimney liners, architectural ornaments and other ceramic constructional goods, roofing tiles690510	11,639	N/A
Prepared glues and other prepared adhesives, other350699	11,281	N/A
Any equipment, or any part of equipment, purchased for, or the repair parts or materials employed in, or the expense of repairs made in a foreign country with respect to, a LASH (Lighter Aboard Ship) barge utilized as a cargo container, upon first arrival of such barge in any port of the United States981800	9,921	N/A
T-shirts, singlets, tank tops and similar garments, knitted or crocheted of cotton610910	9,107	N/A
Lavatory seats and covers392220	9,048	N/A

Top origin countries

Country	Shipments	QoQ
CHINA	512,101	N/A
GERMANY	113,824	N/A
INDIA	85,978	N/A
REPUBLIC OF KOREA	78,871	N/A
ITALY	74,470	N/A
VIET NAM	74,234	N/A
TAIWAN	69,889	N/A
JAPAN	66,397	N/A
BELGIUM	51,384	N/A
MEXICO	46,445	N/A

Busiest U.S. ports

Port of entry	Shipments	QoQ
NEW YORK/NEWARK AREA, NEWARK, NJ	352,442	N/A
LOS ANGELES, CA	285,470	N/A
LONG BEACH, CA	259,091	N/A
HOUSTON, TX	115,194	N/A
SAVANNAH, GA	112,823	N/A
CHARLESTON, SC	97,406	N/A
TACOMA, WA	92,146	N/A
NORFOLK, VA	75,468	N/A
MIAMI, FL	71,247	N/A
OAKLAND, CA	58,216	N/A

Largest importers

Importer	Shipments
IKEA SUPPLY AG	22,258
DOLE FRESH FRUIT COMPANY	13,601
SOL GROUP	9,695
J C PENNEY PURCHASING CORP	6,136
WALMART INC	5,773
UNTO THE ORDER OF	4,983
TO THE ORDER OF	4,953
SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS AMERICA INC	4,640
SCHAEFFLER GROUP USA INC	3,537
ROYAL CARIBBEAN CRUISES LTD	3,195

Largest suppliers

Supplier	Shipments
UNION DE BANANEROS ECUATORIANOS S A	4,536
SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO LTD	4,168
ROYAL CARIBBEAN CRUISES LTD	3,363
HIGH Q INTERNATIONAL S A	2,997
GIORGIO GORI WAREHOUSE	2,864
MAGICAL CRUISE CO LTD	2,498
INTERNATIONAL AUTO LOGISTICS LLC	2,464
YUSEN LOGISTICS CHINA CO LTD	2,440
MELON EXPORT S A	2,227
THAI SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO LTD	2,187

Methodology & citation

Figures are counts of U.S. Customs bill of lading records for ocean freight arriving at U.S. ports between January 2020 and March 2020. Product categories are 6-digit Harmonized System subheadings. Quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year comparisons are not available for this quarter — the dataset begins January 2020. Shipment counts are records, not TEU or customs value.

This report is free to cite with attribution: “ImportDoor, State of U.S. Imports: Q1 2020 — U.S. Customs bill of lading data”, linked to this page.