At anchor
Near normalEast Coast ships at anchor
Container ships at anchor off East Coast ports, 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
- East Coast Coast
- Unit
- vessels
- Calculation
- Weekly reading
- Last observation
- week of Aug 24, 2026
- Update frequency
- Weekly
Container ships at anchor off East Coast ports is 7 ships as of week of Aug 24, 2026, near its trailing-12-month normal of 6 ships. This is a coast-wide anchorage count, ships at anchor off East Coast ports. It is related to but broader than a single complex's awaiting-berth queue, and it is not a dwell time.
East Coast ships at anchor climbed to 7 this week, up 75% week over week, and remain 50% below the five-year median (per MARAD). The at-anchor count is a separate series from the ships-awaiting-berth figures and reflects anchor activity along the full East Coast. Despite the week-over-week increase, the count sits well below its longer-term historical average.
| Period | Current | Prior | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Week over week | 7 ships | 4 ships | +75.0% |
| Month over month | 7 ships | 5 ships | +40.0% |
| Year over year | 7 ships | 12 ships | -41.7% |
| vs 5-yr median | 7 ships | 14 ships | -50.0% |
Previous weeks
An earlier week
Container ships at anchor off East Coast ports fell to 4 vessels as of the week of Aug 10, down 6 from a month ago and down 6 from a year ago. The current count sits below the trailing-12-month normal of 6 and well below the five-year median of 15 vessels.
About East Coast ships at anchor
This page counts the container ships at anchor off East Coast ports, the coast-wide anchorage picture, weekly from the BTS supply-chain indicators. It is a broader lens than the per-complex awaiting-berth queue: a ship at anchor off the coast may be waiting for a berth at any of the coast's ports, holding for a schedule, or staged for other reasons, so the two counts are related but not the same number, and neither is a dwell time. Read this page for the coast's overall pressure and the per-complex queue pages for a specific gateway. A rising anchorage count across a coast is the widest early-warning signal the public record carries.