Data through 2026-09-13 (13 September 2026)
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Container ships wait for berths at the Port of Singapore

Container ships wait for berths at the Port of Singapore. The disruption ran from 2024-05-01 (May 2024) to 2024-07-01 (July 2024), affecting Singapore. No measured effect is published for this event; the effect section explains why.

Key facts

Started
2024-05-01 (May 2024)
Ended
2024-07-01 (July 2024)
Status
ended
Severity
2 Moderate
Scope
port
Chokepoints
None
Lanes
None
Countries
Singapore
Confidence
medium: The waiting times, the causes and the mitigation steps come from the port authority and the terminal operator, but neither gives a start or end date, so the start is dated to May 2024 from the first official statement and the end to July 2024, when the operator reported waiting back at two days or less.
First reported
2024-05-30 (30 May 2024)
  • Severity basis: Berth waiting of two to three days, and longer in some cases, affected one port for several weeks without a stoppage, which sits at the moderate level for a port level disruption of more than 24 hours.

What happened

Container ships waited longer for berths at the Port of Singapore from May 2024, and the port operator said waiting had fallen back to two days or less by 2024-07-10 (10 July 2024). The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore said on 2024-05-30 (30 May 2024) that the average wait for a container berth was about two to three days, that about 90 percent of container ships were arriving off schedule against about 77 percent in 2023, and that diversions around the Cape of Good Hope had bunched arrivals. Container volumes in the first four months of 2024 were 13.36 million TEU, 8.8 percent above the same months of 2023. PSA reactivated berths and yard space at Keppel Terminal, opened further berths at Tuas Port and added staff.

Measured effect

No measured effect is published for this event. The disruption was too small or too imprecisely dated to separate from normal variation in a port-level daily series.

The episode is dated to months rather than days, and it lengthened waiting rather than stopping calls, so it sits below the resolution of the daily port series we publish.

Timeline

  1. The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore says the average wait for a container berth is about two to three days, blames off schedule arrivals and higher volumes, and reports weekly handling raised by PSA from 770,000 to 820,000 TEU. [s1] [s3]
  2. A further berth opens at Tuas Port, with more planned for October and December, as trade press reports about 90 percent of container ships arriving off schedule and waits of up to seven days in some cases. [s4]
  3. PSA says the average wait has come down to two days or less in recent weeks, and that it moved 7 percent more container volume in the first half of 2024 than a year earlier. [s2]

Cause

The authority said ships diverting around the Cape of Good Hope had disrupted arrival schedules worldwide and caused bunching, and that off schedule arrivals together with higher container volumes handled in Singapore had lengthened waits for a container berth. Attributed by: Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore. [s1]

Resolution

2024-07-10 (10 July 2024): Waiting for a berth fell back to two days or less by 2024-07-10 after PSA reactivated berths and yard space at Keppel Terminal, commissioned further berths at Tuas Port and added frontline staff. [s2]

Corrections

No corrections to this record as of 2026-09-16 (16 September 2026).

Sources

  1. [s1] Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore, In Response to Media Queries on Vessels' Extended Waiting Times for Berths in the Port of Singapore, published 2024-05-30 (30 May 2024), accessed 2026-09-15. Archived copy. (official)
  2. [s2] PSA Singapore, PSA Group and Singapore Mitigate Impact of Global Supply Chain Disruptions, published 2024-07-10 (10 July 2024), accessed 2026-09-15. Archived copy. (official)
  3. [s3] The Maritime Executive, Singapore Takes Steps to Address Containership Congestion, published 2024-05-30 (30 May 2024), accessed 2026-09-15. Archived copy. (press)
  4. [s4] The Maritime Executive, Singapore Backlog Continues as Nearly All Boxships Arrive Off Schedule, published 2024-07-04 (4 July 2024), accessed 2026-09-15. Archived copy. (press)