At anchor

Below normal

West Coast ships at anchor

Container ships at anchor off West 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
West Coast Coast
Unit
vessels
Calculation
Weekly reading
Last observation
week of Aug 24, 2026
Update frequency
Weekly

Container ships at anchor off West Coast ports is 0 ships as of week of Aug 24, 2026, below its trailing-12-month normal of 1 ship. This is a coast-wide anchorage count, ships at anchor off West 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 West Coast ports fell to 0 ships for the week of Aug 24, 2026, from 1 ship the prior week. The count sits below both its trailing-12-month normal of 1 ship and its 5-year median of 2 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 week0 ships1 ship-100.0%
Month over month0 ships1 ship-100.0%
Year over year0 ships2 ships-100.0%
vs 5-yr median0 ships2 ships-100.0%

Previous weeks

An earlier week

One container ship sits at anchor off West Coast ports as of the week of Aug 17, in line with the trailing-12-month normal. Year-over-year, the count has declined by 2 ships.

Week of Aug 20, 2026

Container ships at anchor off West Coast ports stand at zero as of the week of August 10, down one ship year over year. The reading is well below the trailing-12-month normal of one ship and the five-year median of three ships, per BTS supply-chain indicators.

About West Coast ships at anchor

This page counts the container ships at anchor off West 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.