At anchor
Near normalUS ships at anchor, all coasts
Total container ships at anchor off US ports — the East, Gulf and West coasts combined — weekly, from the BTS supply-chain indicators
Data through week of Aug 24, 2026 · source last checked Sep 1, 2026 · page revised Sep 1, 2026
Cite
- Ships at anchor
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
- US ships at anchor, all coasts Coast
- Unit
- vessels
- Calculation
- Weekly reading
- Last observation
- week of Aug 24, 2026
- Update frequency
- Weekly
The total number of container ships at anchor off US ports is 8 ships as of week of Aug 24, 2026, near its trailing-12-month normal of 9 ships. This is the national anchorage total, the three coast counts (West Coast, East Coast and Gulf Coast) added together for each week all three report. It is a count of ships at anchor, not a dwell time, and it is broader than any single complex's awaiting-berth queue.
Ships at anchor across US coasts totaled 8 vessels as of the week of Aug 24, 2026, near their trailing-12-month normal of 9 ships. The count rose 33.3 percent week over week from 6 ships, though it sits 50 percent below the five-year median of 16 ships and has fallen 46.7 percent year over year.
| Period | Current | Prior | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Week over week | 8 ships | 6 ships | +33.3% |
| Month over month | 8 ships | 6 ships | +33.3% |
| Year over year | 8 ships | 15 ships | -46.7% |
| vs 5-yr median | 8 ships | 16 ships | -50.0% |
Previous weeks
An earlier week
Container ships anchored nationwide stand at 6 vessels, below the trailing-12-month normal of 9. The count has risen from 2 last month and 4 last week, but remains well below both the five-year median of 13 and the year-ago total.
Week of Aug 20, 2026
Container ships at anchor off US coasts fell to 4 vessels as of mid-August, down 60% from the prior month and well below the trailing-12-month normal of 10 ships. The offshore queue sits 80% below the five-year median.
About US ships at anchor, all coasts
This page adds up the container ships at anchor off the West Coast, East Coast and Gulf Coast into one national count, week by week, from the same BTS supply-chain indicators behind the per-coast pages. A week appears here only when all three coasts report it, so the total is always a true three-coast sum and a gap in one coast's series never shows up as a national swing. Read this page for the widest single congestion signal the public record carries; read the per-coast pages to see which seaboard is driving a move, and the per-complex queue pages for a specific gateway. A ship at anchor may be waiting for a berth, holding for a schedule, or staged for other reasons, so this is related to but broader than the awaiting-berth queue, and it is not a dwell time.