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Los Angeles port congestion, September 2026
In September 2026, commercial vessels in Los Angeles spent a median of 20.8 h at anchorage, across 315 completed stays. One in ten stays lasted 72 hours or more. The longest daily median was on 10 Sept (≥72 h).
What this figure does not cover
Los Angeles and Long Beach have run a vessel queuing system since 2022: container ships bound for San Pedro Bay hold position far offshore and are given a berth slot before they approach, rather than queueing at anchor. That wait happens outside the measured area, so this figure covers the ships that do anchor in the bay — mostly tankers and bulk carriers. Read it as anchorage time for that traffic, not as the container queue and not as a measure of whether the port is backed up.
What stood out
- Tankers waited longest (27.0 h), cargo ships the shortest (16.7 h).
- Waits spiked on 10 Sept, when the daily median reached ≥72 h, 247% above the month as a whole.
- About one ship in 5 was still at anchor after 72 hours.
Key figures
- Median time at anchorage (excl. bunkering and lay-up)
- 20.8 h
- Ships still at anchor after 72 hours
- 19%
- Completed anchorage stays
- 315
- Completed stays on a typical day
- 10.5
- Ships at anchor at any one time
- 13
Daily median time at anchorage
| Day | Median | Stays |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Sept | 20.1 h | 14 |
| 2 Sept | 9.8 h | 11 |
| 3 Sept | 38.3 h | 11 |
| 4 Sept | 58.1 h | 6 |
| 5 Sept | 18.8 h | 11 |
| 6 Sept | 18.7 h | 10 |
| 7 Sept | 38.8 h | 10 |
| 8 Sept | 2.4 h | 6 |
| 9 Sept | 31.1 h | 16 |
| 10 Sept | ≥72 h | 8 |
| 11 Sept | ≥72 h | 6 |
| 12 Sept | 25.1 h | 23 |
| 13 Sept | 8.1 h | 14 |
| 14 Sept | 2.6 h | 7 |
| 15 Sept | 20.8 h | 23 |
| 16 Sept | 17.0 h | 6 |
| 17 Sept | 18.3 h | 8 |
| 18 Sept | 18.5 h | 14 |
| 19 Sept | 18.4 h | 10 |
| 20 Sept | 25.6 h | 9 |
| 21 Sept | 34.1 h | 7 |
| 22 Sept | 12.7 h | 8 |
| 23 Sept | 15.6 h | 6 |
| 24 Sept | 40.7 h | 11 |
| 25 Sept | 16.1 h | 10 |
| 26 Sept | 2.2 h | 10 |
| 27 Sept | 37.9 h | 6 |
| 28 Sept | 10.4 h | 11 |
| 29 Sept | 14.8 h | 9 |
| 30 Sept | 6.7 h | 14 |
Longest days
- 10 Sept: ≥72 h median, 8 stays
- 11 Sept: ≥72 h median, 6 stays
- 4 Sept: 58.1 h median, 6 stays
By vessel type
| Vessel type | Stays | Median at anchorage |
|---|---|---|
| Tanker | 132 | 27.0 h |
| Cargo | 124 | 16.7 h |
| Container | 49 | 5.2 h |
Other ports in September 2026
What shapes anchorage time in Los Angeles
The anchorages in San Pedro Bay serve both the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach. Tankers calling at the area’s refineries and terminals and bulk carriers make up much of the anchored traffic. With relatively few stays in a month, a handful of long waits can move the median noticeably, so compare several months before drawing conclusions.
Questions about Los Angeles in September 2026
How long do ships wait at anchor in Los Angeles?
In September 2026, commercial ships spent a median of 20.8 h at anchor in Los Angeles, based on 315 completed stays. One in ten ships was still at anchor after 72 hours. Bunkering anchorages are not included.
Which ships wait longest at anchor in Los Angeles?
In September 2026: tankers 27.0 h, cargo ships 16.7 h, container ships 5.2 h (median time at anchor, types with at least 20 stays).
Is Los Angeles more congested than other major ports?
Los Angeles had the longest median time at anchorage of the 5 ports PortInsight tracks in September 2026. Among the others, the longest was Rotterdam (19.9 h) and the shortest Yokohama (13.7 h). Ports use their anchorages differently, so each is best compared with its own history.
How many ships are at anchor in Los Angeles?
In September 2026, an average of 13 commercial ships were at anchor in the port area at any one time. That is the total time ships spent at anchor divided by the length of the month, so it is measured from the same stays as the median rather than counted separately.
Is Los Angeles port congested right now?
This report covers September 2026. For current conditions, the live Los Angeles tracker on PortInsight shows ships at anchor, time at anchorage and the congestion level, updated continuously from AIS data.
How to read this report
- Median time at anchorage
- Half of the ships spent less time at anchor than this, half spent more. Unlike an average, a few very long stays do not pull it up.
- 1 in 10 ships waited longer than
- The 90th percentile. It shows how long the slowest tenth of ships waited, which is what matters when you plan for a bad case rather than a typical one.
- Still at anchor after 72 hours
- Stays are tracked for at most 72 hours. Where enough ships reach that limit, the 90th percentile would simply read "72 h" for every busy port, so the share of ships that reached it is shown instead.
- Ship stays per day
- How many ships completed a stay at anchor on a typical measured day. The median says how long ships stayed; this says how many there were, which is the difference between a busy port and a slow one.
- Ship stays
- Each time a commercial ship anchored in the port area and later left, counted in the month it left. A ship that anchors twice counts twice.
- Not the same as the berth queue
- Ships anchor for many reasons besides waiting for a berth: orders, fuel, crew, supplies or a tidal window. This report measures all time at anchor, which makes it a different measure from the berth-queue figures other sources publish, not simply a higher one — it reads higher where ships anchor for other reasons, and lower where they wait outside the monitored area.
Coverage and data quality
315 completed stays, measured on 30 of 30 days; 19% of stays reached the 72-hour tracking limit and count as 72 hours.
How these figures are measured
Measured from public AIS data: completed stays at anchor inside the port area by commercial vessels (IMO number, 100 m and longer), by the month the vessel left the anchorage. Bunkering and lay-up anchorages are excluded from the headline and bunkering is reported separately. Stays are tracked for at most 72 hours; longer stays count as 72 hours, so P90 values at the cap are shown as "≥72 h". The figure covers all time at anchorage, not only the queue for a berth, so it is a different measure from the berth-queue figures published elsewhere and can read higher or lower than them.
The series starts in September 2026, when PortInsight moved to a new AIS data provider. Earlier months are not comparable and are not published.