Timeline
73 reviewed events grouped by the year they started. The dot shows severity, from minor (blue) to critical (red). Ongoing events are marked. Severity measures disruption to the movement of goods, not human cost; the methodology sets out the rubric.
2026
- Workers strike at Chittagong port over New Mooring Container Terminal lease
- Strait of Hormuz closed to most shipping during the Iran war
- Drone attacks halt oil loadings at Ust-Luga and Primorsk
- Panama Canal cuts Neopanamax draft and daily transit slots
- Russia halts commercial shipping through the Kerch Strait
- Houthi embargo on Saudi shipping and attacks at Bab el-Mandeb
- River pilots stop work on the Parana corridor in Argentina
- Record low water at Kaub restricts Rhine barge shipping
- Typhoon Dolphin halts container terminals at Ningbo and Shanghai
- Earthquake suspends container terminals at Colombia's Buenaventura port
- Durban Gateway Terminal backlog follows terminal operating system cutover
- Ver.di warning strikes halt container handling at German seaports
- Typhoon Saudel closes Ningbo and Shanghai container terminals
- Typhoon Dujuan halts cargo calls at Yokohama and Tokyo Bay ports
- Hurricane Polo restricts shipping at Mexican Pacific ports
- Italian port workers hold 24 hour national strike
2025
- Explosion and fire at Shahid Rajaee Port near Bandar Abbas
- Iberian power blackout halts container terminals at Spanish ports
- Pilot work-to-rule and national strike disrupt Port of Antwerp-Bruges
- Lashing workers strike halts container handling at the Port of Rotterdam
- United States and China levy port fees on each other's vessels
2024
- Gang violence halts container and oil terminals at Port-au-Prince
- Ship strikes Key Bridge and closes the Baltimore ship channel
- Container ships wait for berths at the Port of Singapore
- Hurricane Beryl closes the Houston, Galveston, Freeport and Texas City ports
- CN and CPKC lock out rail workers and stop Canadian freight rail
- Typhoon Yagi halts container handling at Hong Kong and Shenzhen terminals
- Hurricane Helene closes the Port Tampa Bay and Port Manatee shipping channels
- Dockworkers strike halts US East and Gulf Coast container ports
- Lockout of ship and dock foremen stops British Columbia ports
- Lockout of longshore workers closes Port of Montreal terminals
2023
- Earthquake and container fire close Iskenderun port in Turkey
- Cyclone Freddy halts cargo handling at the port of Beira in Mozambique
- Drought cuts draft and daily transits at the Panama Canal
- Cyclone Biparjoy suspends operations at Gujarat ports
- Longshore strike stops cargo at British Columbia ports
- Ransomware stops container handling at the Port of Nagoya
- Russia ends Black Sea Grain Initiative participation and strikes Ukrainian ports
- Typhoon Saola halts port work in Hong Kong and Shenzhen
- Vessel congestion at the Port of Durban container terminals
- DP World Australia disconnects its network after a cyber incident
- Attacks on shipping in the Red Sea divert traffic around Africa
2022
- Ukraine's Black Sea ports close to commercial shipping after the invasion
- Shanghai COVID-19 lockdown restricts trucking to the port
- Warning strikes stop work at German North Sea ports
- Low water at Kaub restricts Rhine barge shipping in summer 2022
- Live fire exercise zones around Taiwan divert shipping
- Dockworkers strike for eight days at the Port of Felixstowe
- Typhoon Muifa halts port operations at Shanghai and Ningbo-Zhoushan
- Second eight day dockworkers strike at the Port of Felixstowe
- Hurricane Ian closes Tampa, Manatee, Port Canaveral and Jacksonville ports
- Low water closes two stretches of the Lower Mississippi River to barge traffic
- Russia suspends its part in the Black Sea Grain Initiative for four days
- Cargo truckers strike cuts container movement at South Korean ports
- EU ban on seaborne Russian crude and the G7 price cap take effect
2021
- Winter storm closes Houston, Galveston, Texas City and Corpus Christi ports
- Container ship Ever Given grounds and blocks the Suez Canal
- Container ship X-Press Pearl burns and sinks off Colombo
- COVID-19 controls cut container handling at Yantian in Shenzhen
- Cyberattack on Transnet disrupts South African container terminals
- Typhoon In-fa halts container handling at Shanghai and Ningbo ports
- Meishan container terminal at Ningbo-Zhoushan closed for two weeks
- Hurricane Ida closes New Orleans and the Lower Mississippi River
- Floods cut both rail lines and the highways serving the Port of Vancouver
2020
2019
2017
2016
Dates from the reviewed event records, first recorded 2016-08-31 (31 August 2016). Event table.