Port Congestion Briefing — Week of 1–7 March 2026

60-second executive take

The sharpest risk this week is geopolitical, not just operational. Kuehne+Nagel says ports in the Persian Gulf are effectively inaccessible following the Strait of Hormuz closure, with Bahrain closed and disruption risk elevated across nearby gateways such as Jebel Ali, Sohar, Salalah, and Al-Fujairah.
East and West Africa remain the most visible congestion cluster in the numbers. Beira stands out with a 12.6-day 7-day average vessel waiting time in myKN, while Portcast ranks Beira (P50 9.15 days), Conakry (7.19), Nouakchott (6.13), and Dar es Salaam (4.66) among this week’s high-congestion ports.
Several major hubs are not “shut,” but they are carrying hidden execution risk. Hamburg, Antwerp, Rotterdam, Singapore, Manila, and New York are still moving cargo, yet the mix of high yard use, vessel bunching, weather after-effects, maintenance, and long-tail or anchorage risk means LSPs should expect more planning friction than headline wait times alone suggest.

Risk tiers definition

Critical: Port closure, access restrictions, or wait-time pressure already severe enough to threaten schedule integrity and customer commitments immediately.
High: Port remains operational, but there are clear warning signs such as elevated 7-day average waits, high P50 congestion, long-tail delay signals, yard pressure, maintenance constraints, or weather-related disruption.
Stable: Operating conditions are manageable for now, but still worth monitoring because yard density, backlog, or local events could quickly raise risk.

Global risk board

Method note: Average wait times refer to 7-day average vessel waiting time, while percentile figures use median congestion readings (P50). Long-tail risk indicates that some shipments may see delays materially above the median.

Location	Key signals	Tier	Likely impact	What LSPs should do now
Persian Gulf / Strait of Hormuz-linked gateways	Gulf access severely disrupted; Bahrain closed; rerouting around the region is extending voyages	Critical	Immediate service disruption, ETA instability, transshipment knock-on effects	Revalidate routings shipment by shipment and reset customer expectations
Beira	12.6-day average wait; P50 9.15 days; 8 vessels waiting; weather-related disruption persists	Critical	Severe berth delays and inland planning slippage	Escalate all Beira cargo and widen delivery windows
Jebel Ali / UAE corridor	1.69-day average wait; P50 1.25 days; 15 vessels waiting; disruption risk remains elevated	High	Rolled cargo, feeder disruption, reduced schedule reliability	Reconfirm vessel rotations and avoid firm promises on milestones
Tema	4.45-day average wait; P50 2.31 days; strict move limits remain in place	High	Berth delay and reduced terminal flexibility	Add cut-off buffer and align trucking plans tightly
Dalian	4.94-day average wait	High	Ongoing delay risk for North China cargo	Protect time-sensitive bookings and review alternate routings
Manila	2.92-day average wait; heavy berth congestion; off-window vessels may face 4–5 day delays; 10 vessels waiting	High	Missed connections and uneven discharge timing	Flag exception cargo early and avoid optimistic ETAs
Hamburg	1.37-day average wait; yard use at 84% to 90%+; maintenance is reducing capacity	High	Feeder disruption and uneven terminal execution	Build buffer into handoffs and monitor terminal conditions closely
Antwerp	1.19-day average wait; Q913 yard at 97%; long-tail delay risk	High	Terminal-specific disruption despite moderate headline waits	Route by terminal where possible and watch sensitive cargo
New York	2.11-day average wait; storm after-effects and vessel bunching continue; long-tail delay risk	High	Some shipments may face outsized delay versus average conditions	Treat ETA confidence cautiously and add dray buffer
Rotterdam	1.23-day average wait; yard pressure persists; inland delays of 24–72 hours at some terminals	Stable	Mostly manageable, but inland execution remains uneven	Keep intermodal planning flexible
Singapore	1.25-day average wait; yard utilization above 85%	Stable	Connection risk for tight transshipment moves	Monitor short-window connections closely
Busan	1.5-day average wait; weather disruption has eased; yard around 86%	Stable	Temporary volatility rather than systemic congestion	Watch recovery and verify berth windows
Le Havre	2.3-day average wait; yard has normalized; long-tail delay risk remains	Stable	Recovery is improving, but outliers may still slip	Monitor only, no escalation needed yet
Panama (Balboa / Cristobal)	Operations resumed; residual backlog remains; Cristobal at 2.33 days	Stable	Gradual normalization with some lagging shipments	Verify milestone recovery cargo by cargo

Critical tier deep dives

1) Persian Gulf disruption

What’s happening
This is the week’s defining disruption. myKN says all ports in the Persian Gulf, except Bahrain, are no longer accessible, while Bahrain itself is closed. It also says major carriers have halted passage through the Bab el Mandeb Strait, forcing rerouting and extending voyages.

What this means
For LSPs, the main issue is not just port waiting time. It is network redesign on the fly: skipped calls, rolled cargo, revised transshipment patterns, and ETAs that may remain fluid even after vessels are re-planned.

What to tell customers
Standard Gulf transit assumptions are temporarily unreliable. Cargo moving to, from, or via Gulf hubs should be treated as exception freight until carriers stabilize routings.

Action checklist

Reconfirm routing and port-pair assumptions before quoting or reconfirming delivery dates.
Separate cargo already on water from cargo not yet gated in.
Ask carriers for revised call plans instead of relying on prior schedules.
Build customer updates around uncertainty ranges, not single-date promises.

2) Beira

What’s happening
Beira is one of the clearest hard-congestion cases this week. myKN reports a 12.6-day 7-day average vessel waiting time, with congestion compounded by strong winds and rain. Portcast also ranks it as the highest-congestion port in this weekly snapshot, with P50 9.15 days and 8 vessels waiting.

What this means
This is no longer minor schedule drag. Southern Africa cargo moving through Beira faces a material risk of berth delay, vessel slippage, and knock-on inventory timing problems inland.

What to tell customers
Beira-linked shipments need wider timing windows. Fast follow-up on vessel status and alternate routing feasibility matters more than promising exact handover dates.

Action checklist

Escalate Beira bookings to active watch status.
Recheck inland planning that depends on berth certainty.
Protect high-priority shipments with alternate plans where commercially viable.
Avoid treating “on-schedule departure” as equivalent to predictable discharge timing.

3) Jebel Ali and the wider UAE corridor

What’s happening
Jebel Ali’s wait-time numbers do not look extreme in isolation, but that misses the story. myKN says disruption is highly likely due to the Middle East situation and also notes crane malfunctions. Al-Fujairah reopened after impact, but delays and disruptions remain likely. Portcast shows Jebel Ali P50 1.25 days with 15 vessels waiting, which points to real backlog even if median wait is still moderate.

What this means
This is a classic case where operational statistics need context. A “moderate” median does not remove the strategic risk of changing vessel networks, delayed feeder flows, and uncertain access conditions across the wider Gulf system.

What to tell customers
Jebel Ali cargo may still move, but reliability is lower than normal. Updates should focus on route viability and revised carrier plans, not only terminal waiting time.

Action checklist

Revalidate every customer ETA touching UAE transshipment.
Confirm whether cargo remains on the intended service string.
Watch for rolled bookings and feeder knock-on delays.
Prepare alternate customer communication templates for sudden schedule changes.

High tier snapshots

Tema: myKN shows a 4.45-day 7-day average wait and strict pro-forma move limits. Portcast still places Tema in Medium with P50 2.31 days, which suggests pressure is meaningful but not yet at the week’s most extreme level.
Dalian: A 4.94-day 7-day average wait keeps Dalian in the upper-risk group even as other Chinese gateways look more normalized after Lunar New Year.
Manila: Heavy berth congestion persists, and off-window vessels may face 4–5 day delays. Portcast’s 10 vessels waiting reinforces that queue risk remains active.
Hamburg: The headline wait is moderate, but the operational setup is tighter than it looks. Maintenance-driven capacity reduction plus 90%+ yard use at CTH raises the risk of feeder disruption and uneven terminal performance.
New York: myKN points to lingering winter-storm and vessel-bunching effects, while Portcast marks the port as a long-tail case. That combination usually means averages can look tolerable while individual shipments still get hit hard.
Antwerp: Average wait stays low, but 97% yard use at Q913 and Portcast’s long-tail signal make Antwerp a precision-planning port this week rather than a fully comfortable hub.

Stable tier (monitor)

Rotterdam, Singapore, Busan, Le Havre, and Panama are in the “monitor, not panic” group. They are moving cargo, but each still carries a reason to stay alert: inland delay pockets in Rotterdam, high yard use in Singapore, weather-recovery noise in Busan, long-tail risk in Le Havre, and residual closure backlog in Panama.

For LSPs, these are ports where execution discipline matters more than broad rerouting. The right response is tighter milestone monitoring rather than immediate contingency activation.

Disruption bulletin

Middle East: Strait of Hormuz-linked disruption is the biggest event in this week’s update. Bahrain is closed, and nearby Gulf ports face elevated disruption risk.
Salalah / Al-Fujairah: Both were impacted on 3 March and then reopened, but disruption likelihood remains elevated.
Busan: Port closure lasted nine hours on 2–3 March due to strong winds.
New York: Three days of operational disruption from winter storms continue to affect flows.
Panama: Balboa and Cristobal resumed operations, with backlog-clearing efforts underway.
Montreal: Transportation Agents ratified a new agreement, with return to work expected from 9 March 2026, supporting gradual normalization.

Forward lookout

Over the next 7–14 days, the main watchpoint is whether Gulf network disruption starts spilling more visibly into adjacent hubs and transshipment patterns. Even ports with modest current wait times could see reliability degrade if carrier rotations keep changing.

In Africa, watch whether Beira eases meaningfully or remains pinned by weather-linked backlog. In Europe, Hamburg’s maintenance window and Antwerp’s terminal density deserve close monitoring. In Asia, Manila and Dalian remain the most practical watch ports for near-term planning friction.

Many teams read congestion updates but still chase milestones manually. Tradlinx provides event-based container visibility (e.g., gate-in/out, vessel departure/arrival) and API integration so workflows and alerts can run directly inside your systems.