Monthly Average Container Vessel Dwell Times At The Top 25 U.S. Container Ports January 2019 To June 2023

This dataset contains the monthly average dwell times (measured in hours) for container ships operating at the top 25 busiest container ports in the United States. Spanning a critical historical period from January 2019 through June 2023, this data captures port fluidities before, during, and immediately following the historic global supply chain disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic. Dwell time is calculated from U.S. Coast Guard Automatic Identification System (AIS) transponder data, monitoring the duration a vessel remains stationary at a port terminal berth during loading and unloading cycles. This metric is published by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) under the Port Performance Freight Statistics Program to provide transparency into maritime network efficiency and port terminal congestion.
Organization: Department of Transportation
Organization URL: https://catalog.data.gov/organization/dot
Last updated: 2026-06-09
Tags: container, containerships, dwell, ports, vessel