Friction board

The import-friction board

A rules-based, descriptive read of where each major port complex is flowing or backing up

Data through week of Jul 6, 2026 · page updated Jul 10, 2026

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As of the latest readings, LA/Long Beach reads flowing, NY/NJ reads flowing. The friction read is a fixed, rules-based label built from where each complex's ship queue, truck planning-time index and loaded-import TEU sit versus their trailing-12-month normal. The ship queue is the only live, weekly signal, current as of week of Jul 6, 2026; the truck index and loaded imports are monthly and run about two months behind (latest May 2026), so "right now" on this board means the queue. It is descriptive, never a forecast.

The ship queue is weekly and current; the truck planning-time index and loaded imports are monthly and land about two months behind (latest May 2026). Each cell is dated to its own reading.
ComplexFriction readShips awaiting berthTruck PTILoaded imports
LA/Long BeachFlowing2 ships (near normal, wk of Jul 6)4.07 (near normal, May 2026)868,221 TEU (near normal, May 2026)
NY/NJFlowingn/a3.82 (near normal, May 2026)340,365 TEU (near normal, Apr 2026)

About The import-friction board

This board gives each major port complex one plain label, flowing, some pressure, or congested, built by a fixed rule. For each complex we take up to three components, the ship queue where one is published, the truck planning-time index, and loaded-import TEU, and compare each to its own trailing-12-month median. A component more than 15 percent above its normal is elevated. Zero elevated components reads flowing, one reads some pressure, two or more reads congested. The full rule is on the methodology page. Not every complex publishes every component: LA/Long Beach has all three, while NY/NJ has the truck index and loaded imports but no public ship queue, so its queue cell reads n/a. Savannah publishes a ship queue but no truck index, so it lives on the ship-queue page rather than this two-complex board. An n/a here is a gap in what the source publishes, not a gap in the site, and the read is judged only on the components that report. Only the ship queue is a live weekly reading; the truck index and loaded imports are monthly and land about two months after the month they cover, so each cell is dated to its own reading and the live "right now" signal is the queue. It describes the current numbers; it does not predict the next move.