The headline congestion score eased this cycle, yet 24 more ports moved into CONGESTED and the median berthing delay rose by 1.5 hours. If your cargo calls at South Manila, Cai Mep International Terminal, Dongguan or Port Klang, the latest three days ran well above the two-week averages in this edition, which covers Oct 5 – 18, 2026.

The Global Picture

The Tradlinx Port Flow Score (TPFS) composite reads 49.5 out of 100, in the BUSY band and down from 50.5 in the previous edition. Across the top 20 ports by container volume, the throughput-weighted score is 54.6, now 5.1 points above the all-port index. Two weeks ago that gap was 6.8 points.

The port count moved the other way. Of 698 active ports in the index, 156 (22.3%) are rated CONGESTED, up 24, while BUSY fell by 14 to 127. The combined elevated group grew by 10 ports to 283. Median berthing delay rose from 5.9 to 7.4 hours.

The composite weights each port by throughput, so easing at a few large hubs can pull the headline down while more ports cross into CONGESTED. Several of the largest gateways improved this cycle: Ningbo dropped from CONGESTED to BUSY, Jebel Ali from BUSY to STABLE, and Busan shed 4.3 hours to 9.3.

Queues remain concentrated. On the reference date, 82% of waiting vessels were at CONGESTED ports, and Northeast Asia alone held 40% of all waiting vessels.

The extreme outlier is South Manila, with a 111.5-hour two-week average berthing delay (about 4.6 days), the longest among the 89 key ports. Its last three days averaged 155.8 hours.

Regional Breakdown

Southeast Asia carries the highest regional score, while the longest regional waits sit in West and East Africa.

Southeast Asia scores 72.4, the highest of the 11 regions, with 43 of 65 ports rated BUSY or CONGESTED (66%) and a 9.2-hour median delay. The region’s three highest-throughput hubs, Singapore, Port Klang and Tanjung Pelepas, are all rated CONGESTED.

West Africa has the longest regional median delay at 34.9 hours and the highest elevated share: 19 of 26 ports (73%) are BUSY or CONGESTED, 14 of them CONGESTED.

East Africa & Indian Ocean scores 62.8 with a 29.7-hour median, and 12 of its 21 ports are CONGESTED.

Mediterranean reads 56.4 with a 10.0-hour median across 108 ports, 44% of them elevated. Vado Ligure, Koper and Trieste are all CONGESTED.

Northeast Asia sits just inside the BUSY band at 45.9 with a 5.0-hour median. It has 47 CONGESTED ports, more than any other region, and the Pearl River Delta accounts for several of them.

Northern Europe is STABLE at 38.9, with only 12% of ports elevated. Rotterdam stands out among its key ports, rated CONGESTED at 11.3 hours with 15 vessels waiting on the reference date.

North America has the lowest regional score at 24.5 and a 4.1-hour median. Vancouver is its one sharp mover, covered below.

Top Congested Ports

This table ranks ports by composite score, so the top row is not necessarily the longest delay.

Manila has three CONGESTED codes in the key-port set. North Manila leads the ranking at 94.5 with a 24.5-hour delay and 29 vessels waiting. South Manila ranks third at 111.5 hours, where the wait to berth runs 2.5 times the 43.9-hour cargo-handling time. Manila (PHMNL), just outside the top 10, averages 45.1 hours.

Cai Mep International Terminal ranks second at 93.9 after moving from BUSY to CONGESTED, adding 11.1 hours. Its delay has climbed in each window, reaching 38.0 hours over the last three days. The neighbouring Cai Mep code (VNTOT) is BUSY at 7.4 hours, so the pressure here is terminal-specific.

Vado Ligure (39.2 hours) and Koper (59.7 hours) hold fourth and fifth. Koper’s berth wait runs 2.0 times its handling time, though its last three days eased to 26.1 hours, the largest short-term improvement in this edition.

Pearl River Delta ports take three slots. Hong Kong moved from BUSY to CONGESTED with 53 vessels waiting. Dongguan’s two-week delay is 8.6 hours, but its last three days averaged 30.1 hours with 29 vessels waiting and none at berth on the reference date. Yantian sits at 23.0 hours with 52 waiting, and Shenzhen’s four terminals together showed 275 vessels waiting on the reference date.

Port Klang closes the top 10 at 23.8 hours after moving from BUSY to CONGESTED, up 7.8 hours (49%). It is the most congested of the 10 highest-throughput ports, and its delay has risen in each window, reaching 32.9 hours over the last three days.

Where Congestion Is Building

Vancouver posted the largest increase among the 89 key ports, moving from LOW to BUSY with 13.0 hours added to reach 18.8. Its last three days dropped back to 3.5 hours.

Subic Bay (+7.9 hours), Piraeus (+6.0) and Mundra (+5.9) all moved from STABLE to BUSY. Piraeus has kept climbing, with a three-day reading of 31.7 hours against an 18.6-hour two-week average. Trieste and Hong Kong crossed from BUSY into CONGESTED.

The early-warning list flags ports still rated STABLE or LOW but rising fastest. Sines went from 7.6 to 13.9 hours (+83%) and Gothenburg from 7.6 to 13.3 hours (+75%), with Tianjin up 44% to 7.9 hours.

Where Congestion Is Easing

Valencia posted the largest reduction, down 10.7 hours and from CONGESTED to BUSY. At 29.2 hours it still has the sixth-longest wait among the key ports.

Nhava Sheva (−7.9 hours) and Jebel Ali (−7.8) both fell from BUSY to STABLE. Ningbo dropped from CONGESTED to BUSY, and Hakata, Casablanca, Gioia Tauro, Savannah and Antwerp all eased from BUSY to STABLE.

Check the Last Three Days Before Acting on the Ranking

Every level and rank above is a two-week average, and this cycle the most recent three days diverge from it sharply in both directions. Over the last three days, 182 ports ran shorter delays than their two-week average and 126 ran longer.

South Manila’s three-day reading sits 44.3 hours above its average, and Ashdod’s has roughly doubled to 53.9 hours. Going the other way, Trieste fell from 24.9 to 2.3 hours and Tanjung Priok from 20.8 to 2.0.

For a vessel arriving in the next week, the short-window reading is usually the closer guide to the berth wait it will meet. A port can enter this ranking after its queue has cleared, or stay below it while one builds. The second case is the one that pushes discharge past the ETA your team planned around.

If your team re-checks berth delays at these gateways by hand between editions, see how ops teams monitor port congestion on a rolling basis.

Explore the Full Report

The full report includes an interactive global map with port search, the top 10 ports by throughput with berthing delay trends, longest pre-berth waiting times, bottleneck analysis and the early-warning list.

View the full Port Congestion Index report →

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The PCI report is published biweekly, drawing on Port Congestion API coverage of 1,253 ports worldwide. This edition includes 698 active ports in the global index, with detailed port-level analysis across 89 key ports. Levels, scores and delays are two-week averages; waiting and at-berth vessel counts are for the reference date. The Tradlinx Port Congestion Index is derived from Port Congestion API data and is informed by UNCTAD port-performance indicators, queueing theory (Lq/L), and Tradlinx proprietary thresholds. Data as of October 18, 2026.

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