Global port congestion continued to ease for the third straight cycle. The TPFS composite dropped to 27.4 — the lowest reading since we began publishing this report. And last cycle’s biggest story resolved itself: Guangzhou’s 578-hour spike is over, with the port back to LOW. Here’s the full picture across 1,247 ports.
The Global Picture: 27.4 — Three-Cycle Low
The Tradlinx Port Flow Score (TPFS) composite fell to 27.4 out of 100, down from 29.4 — continuing the decline from the 38.0 peak two cycles ago. Global risk remains LOW.
CONGESTED ports dropped from 101 to 79 (–23), while STABLE ports grew to 270 (+21). LOW-rated ports now cover 69.0% of all monitored ports. The combined BUSY+CONGESTED total is 117 ports, or 9.4% — down from 11.5% and nearly half the 16.8% peak from the Apr 6–19 cycle.
Average berth delay is steady at 7.0 hours. The extreme outlier this cycle is Conakry, Guinea at 544 hours (~22.7 days).
Regional Breakdown: West Africa Still the Outlier
Most regions held steady or continued improving. West Africa remains the sole region with elevated pressure.
West Africa (TPFS 38.5) improved from last cycle’s 54.7 but still leads in average delay at 24.1 hours, with 30% of ports rated BUSY or CONGESTED.
Southeast Asia (TPFS 33.5) is essentially flat — BUSY+CONGESTED share stayed at 16% and average delays remain around 10.8 hours. The Manila cluster continues to dominate the global congested port list.
Northeast Asia (TPFS 32.3) is stable after the Guangzhou correction. Without that outlier, the region’s 4.6-hour average delay reflects normal operations across its 254 ports.
Mediterranean (TPFS 30.0) edged down from 30.4. Koper improved significantly (–18.9 hours) but remains CONGESTED at 36.4 hours. Trieste and Benghazi both improved to STABLE.
Northern Europe (TPFS 15.0) stayed Healthy, though Wilhelmshaven jumped back to BUSY (+10.6 hours) — the second time in three cycles it has spiked after recovering.
North America (TPFS 7.2) is the calmest it has been across all recent cycles, with 1.4 hours average delay and zero BUSY ports.
Top Congested Ports: Only 8 This Cycle
The congested port list is the shortest in recent PCI history — only 8 ports meet the threshold, down from 10 in prior cycles.
Casablanca holds the #1 position at 101.5 hours, up slightly (+2.6 hours) with 12 vessels waiting. This port has been CONGESTED for at least four consecutive cycles now.
South Manila worsened again — delays climbed 13.9 hours to 76.2 hours with 31 vessels waiting (the highest queue count globally). Manila held steady at 54.6 hours but with 22 waiting, and North Manila improved by 14.8 hours to 33.0 hours despite having 34 vessels in queue.
Koper finally improved after three consecutive cycles of worsening, dropping 18.9 hours to 36.4. Still CONGESTED, but the trend has turned.
Wilhelmshaven is back at BUSY with 25.1 hours and 16 vessels waiting. This port has been oscillating between STABLE and BUSY across the last three cycles — an unstable pattern worth watching.
Where Congestion Is Easing
Guangzhou is the headline: a complete reversal from 578 hours back to LOW. Confirmed as a short-term disruption, not a structural issue.
Koper shed 18.9 hours — the first improvement there in three cycles. Benghazi moved from BUSY to STABLE (–16.7 hours), and Trieste did the same (–15.0 hours). Chattogram dropped another 11.7 hours.
The Mediterranean ports that spiked in April have now largely corrected, with the exception of Koper which is still working through its backlog.
Explore the Full Interactive Report
This post covers the highlights. The full report includes an interactive global map, sortable port tables across all 1,247 ports, bottleneck analysis, and berthing delay trends.
View the full Port Congestion Index report →
The PCI report is published biweekly and covers all 1,247 monitored ports with TPFS scores, delay hours, and trend data.
The Tradlinx Port Congestion Index is derived from the Port Congestion API, scored using UNCTAD criteria and queueing theory. Data as of May 18, 2026.
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