At anchor

Below normal

Gulf Coast ships at anchor

Container ships at anchor off Gulf 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

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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
Gulf Coast Coast
Unit
vessels
Calculation
Weekly reading
Last observation
week of Aug 24, 2026
Update frequency
Weekly

Container ships at anchor off Gulf Coast ports is 1 ship as of week of Aug 24, 2026, below its trailing-12-month normal of 2 ships. This is a coast-wide anchorage count, ships at anchor off Gulf Coast ports. It is related to but broader than a single complex's awaiting-berth queue, and it is not a dwell time.

Container ships at anchor off the Gulf Coast numbered 1 as of the week of Aug 24, below its trailing-12-month normal of 2 ships. The anchorage rose from zero ships last month but remains well below its five-year median of 3 ships.

Period moves and the seasonal vs-N-yr median (a prior-years comparison). The card verdict and the friction board use each series' trailing-12-month median, the friction rule.
PeriodCurrentPriorChange
Week over week1 ship1 ship0.0%
Month over month1 ship0 shipsn/a
Year over year1 ship1 ship0.0%
vs 5-yr median1 ship3 ships-66.7%

Previous weeks

An earlier week

Container ships at anchor off the Gulf Coast number 1 vessel, below the trailing-12-month normal of 2 ships. The reading is half the five-year median, reflecting light anchorage traffic coast-wide.

Week of Aug 20, 2026

Gulf Coast ships at anchor stand at zero for the week of Aug 10, running below the trailing-12-month normal of two vessels. Year over year the count has eased one ship, and it sits well below the five-year median of four.

About Gulf Coast ships at anchor

This page counts the container ships at anchor off Gulf 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.