# Long Beach Rail Outbound Drops 17%, Nine-Plus-Day Boxes Clear Faster _Oct 6, 2026_ > Long Beach rail outbound volume dropped 17.0% week over week to 2,503, while nine-plus-day containers clearing by rail jumped 88.9% to 750. All three major complexes hold a Flowing import-friction read. _Numbers as of Oct 6, 2026 pull._ Long Beach rail outbound volume fell **17.0% week over week to 2,503** (from 3,014 the prior week), the steepest single-week decline among tracked Port of Long Beach rail series. Containers that had been sitting in the Long Beach rail facility for nine or more days and were then picked up by rail climbed **88.9% to 750** (from 397 a week ago). Total rail inventory at Long Beach eased **12.7% to 16,823** from 19,263, per Port of Long Beach data. [Chart: Ships awaiting berth, All US container ports (vessels)](https://the-dwell.com/waiting/all-us) ([data](https://the-dwell.com/waiting/all-us.md) — chart image: https://the-dwell.com/charts/issues/ports/2026-10-06/waiting/all-us.png) - **Long Beach BNSF rail total fell 11.9% week over week from 16,249 to 14,320**, with the BNSF nine-plus-day bracket at 2,582, down 10.0% from 2,868. The nine-plus-day bracket across all carriers at Long Beach stands at 3,332, up 2.1% from 3,265. Port of Long Beach data. - **All three complexes hold a Flowing import-friction read.** LA/Long Beach, NY/NJ and Savannah remain Flowing. No complex moved between friction categories this week. - **Truck planning-time index is below the trailing-12-month normal at both major coastal complexes**, per BTS. LA/Long Beach: 2.26 (trailing-12-month normal: 4.07). NY/NJ: 2.23 (trailing-12-month normal: 3.82). - **Ships awaiting berth: LA/Long Beach at 2 ships**, near the trailing-12-month normal of 1 ship, per MARAD and the Marine Exchange. Savannah: 2 ships awaiting berth, at its trailing-12-month normal of 2 ships. - **Loaded imports sit near the trailing-12-month normal at all three complexes**, per the respective port authorities. LA/Long Beach: 967,013 TEU (trailing-12-month normal: 848,128 TEU). NY/NJ: 392,074 TEU (trailing-12-month normal: 382,286 TEU). Savannah: 251,888 TEU (trailing-12-month normal: 239,584 TEU). The Port of Los Angeles reported August 2026 volume of 955,907 TEU, 6% above the port's five-year average for August and on par with August 2025. The authority described August as capping the busiest three consecutive months in port history (Port of Los Angeles, Sep 9, 2026). The Northwest Seaport Alliance reported August 2026 total container volume of 235,795 TEU, down 8.2% vs August 2025, with full imports down 10.3% (NWSA, Sep 17, 2026). Both are the latest available monthly data and reflect August, not the current week. **Data note:** The all-US ships-awaiting-berth series and several coast-level anchor-count series have not updated in over two weeks. The all-US queue chart above reflects the most recent available data, not current-week figures. --- Canonical URL: https://the-dwell.com/issues/2026-10-06