The Port of Santos (Brazil) reports the largest growth in congestion in the region in 2024.

Juliana Vanessa L.
5 days ago
3 min read

Over the past year, congestion at the world's major ports has once again become a central issue in maritime trade. A recent study revealed that 68% of the 88 ports analyzed experienced an increase in their average anchoring times in 2024, reflecting the effects of a logistics chain still unstable due to global factors.

Recent news has focused on congestion at key ports like Shanghai, Singapore, and Los Angeles , but this issue is not new. The Red Sea crisis, threats of port strikes, and extreme weather events contributed to a challenging outlook throughout the year. In fact, by June 2024, port congestion reached levels not seen since the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a Beacon report.

Increased anchoring times

Of the 88 ports evaluated, 60 recorded longer anchoring times compared to 2023. Although most of the increases were moderate (in 34 ports the increase was less than two hours), 30% showed increases above this threshold. Only 15% of ports managed to reduce their waiting times by more than two hours.

Latin America in Focus: Santos and Cartagena in the Crosshairs

The report details the changes recorded at several major ports in Latin America. Among them, the Port of Santos, in Brazil , had the second-largest increase in congestion worldwide:

Santos, Brazil: +0.8 days | +20.3 hours | +146%
Colón, Panama: +0.3 days | +7.8 hours | +180%
Balboa, Panama: +0.3 days | +6.1 hours | +182%
Cartagena, Colombia: +0.1 day | +1.4 hours | +307%
Callao, Peru: +0.0 days | +1.0 hours | +28%
Guayaquil, Ecuador: +0.0 days | +0.8 hours | +28%
San Antonio, Chile: +0.0 days | +0.8 hours | +22%

Cartagena stands out for its highest percentage increase , although in absolute terms the increase was moderate.

The most affected ports globally

Globally, the following ports led the increase in wait times:

Durban, South Africa: +1.26 days
Santos, Brazil: +0.85 days
Charleston, USA: +0.72 days
Vancouver, Canada: +0.68 days
Manila, Philippines: +0.65 days

After these cases, no other port recorded an increase greater than 10 hours.

There were also improvements

Not everything was a setback. Some ports managed to improve their performance, such as:

Mersin, Turkey: reduction of more than 2 days
Gdansk, Poland: half-day reduction

Apart from these, no other port reported a decrease in anchoring times greater than 10 hours.

Regional trends: an uneven impact

The report also highlights how logistics disruptions affected different regions unevenly:

Europe: +0.05 days
North America: +0.15 days
Southeast Asia: +0.08 days
Far East: -0.02 days
Middle East and North Africa: -0.26 days

Far East: Resilient Infrastructure

Despite the increase in ports such as Shanghai and Hong Kong, the Far East maintained average anchorages below 0.12 days (less than 3 hours) , demonstrating the solidity of its port infrastructure.

Southeast Asia: Manila and Singapore under pressure

Waiting times in this region increased by 30%, reaching an average of 8.4 hours across 10 ports . Manila was the main factor behind this increase. Although waiting times nearly doubled in Singapore, the port ranked only 52nd on the global list of congestion .

North America: among the most congested

The North American region recorded an average anchorage time of 0.6 days (14 hours) , an increase of four hours compared to 2023. Of the 11 ports analyzed:

9 increased their waiting time.
Charleston, Vancouver and Norfolk reported the largest increases (more than 5 hours).
Only Houston (-0.1 days) and Savannah (-0.3 days) showed improvements.

Europe: less congestion than America

In the 17 European ports analyzed, the average was 0.23 days , less than half of that recorded in North America. Although 13 European ports saw increases, the increases were more moderate. For example:

Valencia: +0.2 days
Rotterdam: almost doubled its time, but remained below the regional average
Antwerp: increase of less than one hour