Anchorages at U.S. East Coast and Gulf Coast ports continue to be crowded with container ships waiting to berth, and the number of ships lined up there now far exceeds that of West Coast ports. The number of container ships waiting to berth is still very high near these three coastline ports.
As of Friday morning, 125 container ships were waiting to berth outside North American ports, according to an analysis of MarineTraffic's ship-tracking data and California's ship queue numbers.
This is a 16% decrease from the 150 vessels waiting at berth at the peak of congestion on the West Coast in January, but a 36% increase from the 92 vessels a month earlier.
Ships queuing near the ports of Los Angeles/Long Beach have grabbed the most headlines over the past year, but the center of congestion has shifted: As of Friday, 36 percent of ships were waiting for berths at West Coast ports, while 64 percent were in Waiting outside the East Coast and Gulf of Mexico ports. The Port of Savannah now has the largest number of queued ships in North America. The combined capacity of container ships waiting for berths outside U.S. and British Columbia ports on Friday was 1,037,164 TEU.
So what is the value of the goods in these containers? As a rough estimate, assuming 90% container utilization (some estimates are higher), the average value of imported goods per container is $43,899 (average value of imported goods in Los Angeles in 2020, which may be a conservative estimate considering inflation) , the total value of cargo waiting to be unloaded outside U.S. ports on Friday was estimated at more than $40 billion.
Capacity shifts to the east coast
Supply chain visibility platform Project44 tracks monthly capacity arrivals to West and East Coast ports.
The tracking report found that capacity to the East Coast in June was up 83% year-on-year and 177% compared to June 2020. East Coast capacity is now on par with the West Coast, which has fallen nearly 40% since its peak in January. Project44 attributed the change to importers' concerns about disruptions in labor talks at West Coast ports.
East Coast/Gulf Coast ships line up for berth
As of Friday morning, MarineTraffic data showed there were 36 container ships awaiting berth at the Port of Savannah with a combined capacity of 343,085TEU (average vessel size is 9,350TEU).
According to Hapag-Lloyd's port operations update this week, container ships are currently waiting 10-12 days for a berth at the Port of Savannah, and the port's yard utilization rate is 89%.
The second largest number of ships in line on the East Coast is at the Port of New York/New Jersey. As of Friday morning, there were 20 vessels waiting for berth with a total capacity of 180,908TEU (average vessel size was 9,045TEU).
The Hapag-Lloyd report indicated that ships in the Port of New York/New Jersey waited for a berth "which may exceed 20 days, depending on terminal conditions." In addition, the yard utilisation rate at Maher Terminals is 92%, GCT Bayonne Terminals is 75% and APM Terminals is 72%.
On the Gulf Coast, there are 20 vessels waiting to berth near the Port of Houston with a combined capacity of 121,196TEU (average vessel size is 6,060TEU). According to Hapag-Lloyd, the Port of Houston's Barbours Cut terminal is at 86 percent utilisation, and "due to longer street dwell times, the terminal continues to face a shortage of chassis equipment."
Elsewhere on the east coast and along the Gulf Coast, two ships were waiting near the port of Virginia, and another two were waiting near the port of New Orleans.
West Coast ships line up for berth
There are 24 container ships waiting for berth at the Port of Los Angeles/Long Beach with a combined capacity of 208,903TEU (average vessel size is 8,704TEU), according to the Southern California Maritime Exchange's ship queue list as of 7 a.m. Friday.
The container ship backlog is down significantly from the 109 queued ships on January 9, but it is still the second-largest number of queued ships in North America. Ship counts at the Port of Los Angeles/Long Beach have hovered around current levels since late May and are still up slightly from a year earlier.
Elsewhere on the West Coast, 10 vessels were waiting for berth at the Port of Oakland with a combined capacity of 79,712TEU (average vessel size was 7,971TEU), according to the San Francisco Bay Area Ocean Exchange's ship queuing list as of 7 a.m. Friday.
Eight other ships were waiting for a berth at the Port of Vancouver, British Columbia, and three were waiting for a berth near the port of Seattle/Tacoma.
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