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Port congestion is a terminal backlog that slows container unloading, customs release, and pickup. For importers, it raises landed costs through demurrage, detention, storage, and rescheduling fees. Importers cannot control market-wide congestion, but they can reduce delays and charges by preparing documents early, planning inland transport, and choosing the right recovery option when cargo stalls.
Port congestion occurs when a port’s infrastructure, labor capacity, terminal space, or processing systems cannot handle the volume of containers arriving for unloading, inspection, and release. The result is longer dwell time, slower pickup, and higher costs for importers that depend on predictable clearance and delivery schedules.
For example, if a port can process 1,000 containers a day but receives 1,200 containers a day for several consecutive days, the backlog grows by 200 containers a day until terminal operations recover.
Circumstances like seasons of high commodity demand, economic uncertainty, and even political instability can lead to ports becoming congested. Preventing the damaging effects of congested ports from causing harm to a business requires importers to take a proactive approach.
Importers cannot eliminate congestion across the market, but they can reduce its impact on individual shipments. The most effective steps are filing customs documents on time, choosing transport modes carefully, preparing backup drayage and storage options, and correcting compliance issues before cargo arrives.
Therefore, the following checklist has less to do with preventing port congestion, which is practically impossible, and more to do with mitigating its impact on your import business by following CBP’s best practices for importers.
Importers reduce avoidable delays during congestion by submitting required filings before cargo arrives and by keeping shipment records easy to retrieve. The Importer Security Filing (ISF) must be submitted at least 24 hours before loading, and CBP recordkeeping rules require import records to be retained for five years after entry.
When terminals are busy, minor document errors can create longer release delays because port, carrier, and customs resources are already stretched.
Importers should keep the following records ready for fast response:
The shipping method also affects how severe congestion can disrupt a shipment. During busy periods, less-than-container load (LCL) cargo can be delayed by issues tied to other importers sharing the same container. Full container load (FCL) gives the importer more control because a customs hold, exam, or document problem tied to another shipper will not delay the entire shared load.
Example: One importer shipped goods as LCL during a high-volume period. Their documents were complete, but another importer in the shared container was flagged for inspection. That inspection delayed the release of the entire container. If the shipment had moved as FCL, the importer would not have been exposed to a delay caused by another party’s compliance issue.
A licensed customs broker helps importers reduce preventable clearance problems by reviewing filings before submission and correcting documentation mismatches early. Broker support does not eliminate holds or exams, and the importer of record remains legally responsible for compliance, but a broker can reduce errors that lead to penalties, delays, or added customs scrutiny.
Before cargo arrives, a customs broker may:
Customs broker support is most valuable when congestion raises the cost of even small mistakes. A filing error or document mismatch that might create a short delay in normal conditions can trigger extra storage, demurrage, or missed pickup during a terminal backlog.
When a shipment is already delayed, the best response depends on release timing, alternate port access, inland transportation options, and storage cost. Importers usually limit damage by choosing among rerouting, transloading, short-term storage, or drayage to keep containers moving and charges from compounding.
If an importer wants to avoid a congested port they can take advantage of one or more of the following solutions:
The table we’ve provided compares rerouting, transloading, drayage, and storage based on timing, benefits, and tradeoffs.
Demurrage charges increased in several major U.S. ports this year, including most of the Port of New York, with rates between $270 and $440 a day in January 2026.
Reducing demurrage fees is simple in theory: don’t let your cargo sit at port past its last free day. In practice, a congested port can complicate your shipping plans.
If an importer anticipates that their goods will be released on a specific day, they will schedule a carrier to pick those goods up from port to bring the shipment to its next link in the logistics chain. However, congested ports can make it difficult to predict when customs will be able to release shipments. For this reason, importers often turn to drayage to avoid demurrage fees.
Port drayage is the short-range transport (usually 100 miles or less) of a shipment from its port of arrival to a nearby warehouse or storage facility. Importers who can’t reliably schedule immediate long-range freight shipping due to port congestion will turn to drayage to avoid compounding demurrage fees, as storage fees with third-party logistics (3PL) warehouses are more affordable than port demurrage.
Scenario: An importer books over-the-road transportation from the port to a warehouse for a container scheduled to arrive in 22 days. Two days before arrival, the importer learns that congestion at the destination terminal is expected to delay processing by three additional days.
At that point, rerouting is no longer practical, and the originally scheduled truck appointment no longer matches the likely release window. To avoid accumulating demurrage charges, the importer hires a drayage provider to move the cargo to a nearby warehouse for temporary storage. That step prevents the container from sitting at the terminal while the importer secures new long-haul transportation.
Here at USA Customs Clearance, we have an assortment of import services that will help you clear customs. Find the one you need to start moving your imports today. Call us at (855) 912-0406 or fill out a contact form online to get started reducing port congestion’s impact on your business.
What is port congestion?
Ports become congested when a port’s infrastructure, manpower, and throughput capacity are insufficient to process the amount of containers coming into and leaving the port, leading to an accumulation of delayed containers.
How can importers reduce the impact of port congestion?
Importers cannot prevent system-wide congestion, but they can reduce its impact by filing customs documents early, choosing FCL when appropriate, pre-booking drayage, and arranging backup storage or inland transport.
How long can port congestion delay a shipment?
Port congestion can delay a shipment by several days to several weeks, depending on terminal backlog, customs holds, labor capacity, and inland transport availability.
Sources:
Sreelakshimi H K, Port Congestion Snapshot: Live Vessel Wait Times (Updated Weekly), Portcast, 2026
What Every Multinational Company Should Know About… Overseeing Customs Brokers and Freight Forwarders, Foley & Lardner LLP, 2024
Notice of Demurrage Updated, Ocean Network Express, 2025
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Licensed customs support for importers across a wide range of U.S. entry needs. USA Customs Clearance provides Customs Bonds, Consulting, Customs Brokerage, Manifest Confidentiality, Importer of Record support, and Guides & Resources to help importers prepare for U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) requirements and customs clearance with regulatory compliance, greater clarity, and confidence.
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