LA/Long Beach Holds Three Ships Awaiting Berth, US Queue Climbs to 7

The ships-awaiting-berth count at LA/Long Beach stands at 3 ships this week, above the complex's trailing-12-month normal of 1 ship (per MARAD and the Marine Exchange), and is the primary factor holding LA/Long Beach's import-friction read at Some pressure. The US-wide ships-awaiting-berth total at all container ports climbed to 7 ships, up 133.3% week over week from 3, per MARAD.

• Savannah ships awaiting berth rose to 2 ships, up 100% week over week from 1 ship, per MARAD and the Marine Exchange. The count is 89% below the four-year median and sits near the trailing-12-month normal of 2 ships. The Savannah friction read remains Flowing.
• East Coast ships at anchor: 3 ships, unchanged week over week, 87% below the four-year median, per MARAD.
• Gulf Coast ships at anchor: 1 ship, 88% below the four-year median, per MARAD.
• Truck PTI at LA/Long Beach measured 2.26 and at NY/NJ measured 2.23 (both BTS), below their trailing-12-month normals of 4.07 and 3.82. Drayage-side friction is eased at both complexes. NY/NJ's import-friction read is Flowing.
• Long Beach rail, nine-plus-day containers: the standing total fell to 1,664, down 43.9% week over week from 2,968, per Port of Long Beach. The BNSF portion fell to 1,118, down 58.1% week over week from 2,667, the steepest single-week drop among this issue's tracked metrics. Containers newly aging past nine days rose to 546 from 301, up 81.4% week over week.

Per the Northwest Seaport Alliance's Oct 19 release, NWSA September 2026 total container volume reached 265,692 TEUs, down 8.1% year over year. Full imports fell 4.4% year over year and full exports fell 9.6% year over year. The alliance noted volumes remain below 2025 levels, which reflected tariff pull-forward demand.

Monthly TEU figures in the friction reads above are the latest available monthly data and lag the current week by several weeks.