At anchor

Below normal

East Coast ships at anchor

Container ships at anchor off East Coast ports, weekly, from the BTS supply-chain indicators

Data through week of Jul 20, 2026 · source last checked Jul 28, 2026 · page revised Jul 26, 2026

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About this data
Source
BTS Supply Chain and Freight Indicators
Series
Container ships at anchor off the coast's ports
Basis
Coast-wide anchorage count, not a berth queue or a dwell time
Geography
East Coast Coast
Unit
vessels
Calculation
Weekly reading
Last observation
week of Jul 20, 2026
Update frequency
Weekly

Container ships at anchor off East Coast ports is 2 ships as of week of Jul 20, 2026, below its trailing-12-month normal of 6 ships. This is a coast-wide anchorage count, ships at anchor off East Coast ports. It is related to but broader than a single complex's awaiting-berth queue, and it is not a dwell time.

Container ships at anchor off the East Coast fell to 2 vessels as of the week of July 20, down from 10 vessels the prior week. The count sits well below the trailing-12-month normal of 6 ships.

Period moves and the seasonal vs-N-yr median (a prior-years comparison). The card verdict and the friction board use each series' trailing-12-month median, the friction rule.
PeriodCurrentPriorChange
Week over week2 ships10 ships-80.0%
Month over month2 ships5 ships-60.0%
Year over year2 ships7 ships-71.4%
vs 5-yr median2 ships17 ships-88.2%

About East Coast ships at anchor

This page counts the container ships at anchor off East Coast ports, the coast-wide anchorage picture, weekly from the BTS supply-chain indicators. It is a broader lens than the per-complex awaiting-berth queue: a ship at anchor off the coast may be waiting for a berth at any of the coast's ports, holding for a schedule, or staged for other reasons, so the two counts are related but not the same number, and neither is a dwell time. Read this page for the coast's overall pressure and the per-complex queue pages for a specific gateway. A rising anchorage count across a coast is the widest early-warning signal the public record carries.