At anchor
Near normalUS ships at anchor, all coasts
Container ships at anchor off US ports, the East, Gulf and West coasts together and one by one, weekly, from the BTS supply-chain indicators
Data through week of Oct 12, 2026 · source last checked Oct 14, 2026 · page revised Oct 15, 2026
Cite
- All coasts
- West Coast
- East Coast
- Gulf Coast
About this data
- Source
- BTS Supply Chain and Freight Indicators
- Series
- Container ships at anchor off US ports, the three coast counts and their total
- Basis
- Coast-wide anchorage counts, not a berth queue or a dwell time
- Geography
- East, Gulf and West coasts
- Unit
- vessels
- Calculation
- Weekly reading; the total counts only weeks all three coasts report
- Last observation
- week of Oct 12, 2026
- Update frequency
- Weekly
The total number of container ships at anchor off US ports is 7 ships as of week of Oct 12, 2026, near its trailing-12-month normal of 8 ships. By coast: West Coast 3 ships, East Coast 3 ships and Gulf Coast 1 ship. This is the national anchorage total, the three coast counts added together for each week all three report. It is a count of ships at anchor, not a dwell time, and it is broader than any single complex's awaiting-berth queue.
Container ships at anchor off US ports totaled 7 as of the week of Oct 12, near the trailing-12-month normal of 8 ships. The count rose by 4 ships from the prior week. By coast: West Coast 3 ships, East Coast 3 ships and Gulf Coast 1 ship.
| Period | Current | Prior | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Week over week | 7 ships | 3 ships | +133.3% |
| Month over month | 7 ships | 7 ships | 0.0% |
| Year over year | 7 ships | 9 ships | -22.2% |
| vs 4-yr median | 7 ships | 47 ships | -85.1% |
| Coast | Latest (week of Oct 12, 2026) | A week earlier | A year earlier | Trailing-12-month normal | Read |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| West Coast | 3 ships | 0 ships | 1 ship | 1 ship | Above normal |
| East Coast | 3 ships | 3 ships | 6 ships | 5 ships | Below normal |
| Gulf Coast | 1 ship | 0 ships | 2 ships | 1 ship | Near normal |
| All coasts | 7 ships | 3 ships | 9 ships | 8 ships | Near normal |
Read compares each count with its own trailing-12-month normal, the rule the friction board uses. The coast counts add up to the all-coasts total in every column except the normal, which is each series' own median.
Previous weeks
Week of Oct 6, 2026
Container ships at anchor fell to 3 vessels as of the week of Oct 5, down from 10 the prior week, and below the trailing-12-month normal of 9 ships. All 3 anchored vessels are on the East Coast; the West and Gulf coasts show zero ships at anchor.
Week of Sep 22, 2026
The national container-ship anchorage stands at 6 ships for the week of Sep 21, down 1 from the prior week and 6 below year-ago. The total sits below its trailing-12-month normal of 9 ships and substantially below its five-year median of 31 ships.
Week of Sep 15, 2026
The national anchorage count is 7 ships as of the week of Sep 14, 2026, down from 10 the prior week and below its trailing-12-month normal of 9. Year over year the total is up 75 percent from 4 ships, though still well below the five-year median of 23.
Week of Sep 8, 2026
Container ships at anchor off US coasts totaled 10 ships for the week of Sep 7, up 150 percent from 4 ships a month prior. The count remains well below its five-year median of 33 ships.
About US ships at anchor, all coasts
This page adds up the container ships at anchor off the West Coast, East Coast and Gulf Coast into one national count, week by week, from the BTS supply-chain indicators, and keeps each coast's own line on the chart. A week appears here only when all three coasts report it, so the total is always a true three-coast sum and a gap in one coast's series never shows up as a national swing. Read the total for the widest single congestion signal the public record carries, the coast lines and the table by coast to see which seaboard is driving a move, and the per-complex queue pages for a specific gateway. A ship at anchor off a coast may be waiting for a berth at any of that coast's ports, holding for a schedule, or staged for other reasons, so this is related to but broader than the awaiting-berth queue, and it is not a dwell time.