Ship queue
Below normalAll US container ports ships awaiting berth
5 ships waiting for a berth across US container ports as of week of Oct 19, 2026. Weekly, from MARAD and the Marine Exchange.
Data through week of Oct 19, 2026 · source last checked Oct 24, 2026 · page revised Oct 22, 2026
Cite
- Ships awaiting berth
About this data
- Source
- MARAD and the Marine Exchange, via BTS Supply Chain and Freight Indicators
- Series
- Container ships awaiting berth
- Basis
- Queue count, not a dwell time
- Geography
- All US container ports
- Unit
- vessels
- Calculation
- Weekly reading
- Last observation
- week of Oct 19, 2026
- Update frequency
- Weekly
The number of container ships awaiting berth across US ports is 5 ships as of week of Oct 19, 2026, below its trailing-12-month normal of 8 ships. This is a ship QUEUE, not a dwell time. Well below the 2021 to 2023 congestion era, when the queue ran into the dozens.
Ships awaiting berth across US container ports fell to 5 as of the week of Oct 19, down 2 from the prior week and below the trailing-12-month normal of 8.
| Period | Current | Prior | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Week over week | 5 ships | 7 ships | -28.6% |
| Month over month | 5 ships | 6 ships | -16.7% |
| Year over year | 5 ships | n/a | n/a |
| vs 4-yr median | 5 ships | 50 ships | -90.0% |
Previous weeks
Week of Oct 13, 2026
The queue of ships awaiting berth across US container ports climbed to 7 as of the week of Oct 12, 2026, up 4 vessels from the prior week. The count remains near its trailing-12-month normal of 8 ships and well below the 2021 to 2023 peak, when it ran into the dozens.
Week of Oct 6, 2026
The ship queue across US container ports stands at 3 vessels as of the week of Oct 5, well below its trailing-12-month normal of 9 ships. Month over month the queue dropped 70 percent; year over year it is down 67 percent. This is well below the prior five years' median queue of 26 ships.
Week of Sep 22, 2026
The all-US ships-awaiting-berth series has not updated in over two weeks. The chart reflects the most recent available data, not the current week. Current-week ship queue figures for LA/Long Beach and Savannah are sourced from MARAD and the Marine Exchange and appear in this week's friction-read digest.
Week of Sep 15, 2026
Ships awaiting berth across all US container ports number 7 as of the week of Sep 14, below the trailing-12-month normal of 9 ships. The queue eased 30 percent week-over-week from 10 ships. Year-over-year, the queue is up 75 percent from 4 ships, though well below the five-year median of 31 ships.
About All US container ports ships awaiting berth
This page tracks the number of container ships waiting offshore for a berth to open across US container ports. It is a queue, a count of ships, and it is not a dwell time: a vessel in the queue has not yet reached a berth. The count comes from MARAD and the Marine Exchange and updates weekly, so it is the most current congestion signal on the site. A rising queue is an early warning that boxes will start to sit; an empty queue is shown as zero ships, never as a zero dwell.
Common questions
How congested are US ports right now?
5 container ships are waiting for a berth across US ports as of week of Oct 19, 2026, below the trailing-12-month normal of 8 ships. The import-friction board gives the per-complex read.
Is port congestion getting better or worse?
Neither, at the moment: the national ship queue has been broadly steady for 3 weeks, with no sustained move in either direction. Over the past four weeks it fell by 1 ship, short of a trend. The call follows a fixed rule: rising or easing needs a net move of at least 12 ships over four weeks, or two straight weekly moves of at least 6 ships in the same direction.
Is the current queue normal?
The queue sits below its trailing-12-month normal of 8 ships, the same friction basis the board uses. For scale, the chart's 2021 to 2023 stretch shows the backlog era, when the national queue ran into the dozens.
Where does this port congestion data come from?
From MARAD and the Marine Exchange, via the BTS Supply Chain and Freight Indicators: a weekly count of container ships awaiting berth. It is a queue count, not a dwell time; a ship in the queue has not yet reached a berth. The methodology page has the full sourcing.