2026-08-28
The latest data from Linerlytica, a shipping consultancy, shows that there are currently about 4.3 million TEU of container ship capacity waiting to be berthed at ports around the world, which has exceeded the historical high of about 4 million TEU during the epidemic in 2022. A large number of ships and shipping capacity are stranded outside the port, which not only disrupts schedules and container turnover, but also further reduces the actual available space in the market, providing support for the recent increase in sea freight and container ship rents. The absolute scale of congestion has reached a new high, but the relative pressure is lower than in 2022. It should be pointed out that what is refreshed this time is the absolute scale of congestion capacity, which does not mean that the current congestion level has completely exceeded the epidemic period. The current total size of the global container fleet is about 34.4 million TEU, and the 4.3 million TEU waiting to be berthed accounts for 12.6% of the global transport capacity; when the global fleet size is about 25.3 million TEU in 2022, the proportion of congested transport capacity once reached 15.7%. In other words, the absolute amount of shipping capacity currently occupied by port congestion
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