Freight disruption events

The archive holds 73 reviewed events, 10 ongoing, the earliest starting 2016-08-31 (31 August 2016). Each event page gives dates, affected places, a sourced timeline and, where public data allows, the measured change in port calls or transits. Events are different from news: news is a daily list of headlines, while events are reviewed and measured records.

Key facts

Events: 73
Ongoing: 10
Event types present: 15

All events

All events, newest first
Start	Event	Type	Status	Severity
2026-09-28	Italian port workers hold 24 hour national strike	Labour action	ended	1 Minor
2026-09-22	Hurricane Polo restricts shipping at Mexican Pacific ports	Weather stoppage	ended	2 Moderate
2026-09-20	Typhoon Dujuan halts cargo calls at Yokohama and Tokyo Bay ports	Weather stoppage	ended	3 Significant
2026-08-26	Typhoon Saudel closes Ningbo and Shanghai container terminals	Weather stoppage	ended	3 Significant
2026-08-17	Ver.di warning strikes halt container handling at German seaports	Labour action	ongoing	2 Moderate
2026-08-15	Durban Gateway Terminal backlog follows terminal operating system cutover	Congestion episode	ongoing	2 Moderate
2026-08-10	Earthquake suspends container terminals at Colombia's Buenaventura port	Terminal closure	ongoing	2 Moderate
2026-08-07	Typhoon Dolphin halts container terminals at Ningbo and Shanghai	Weather stoppage	ended	3 Significant
2026-08-01	River pilots stop work on the Parana corridor in Argentina	Labour action	ended	4 Severe
2026-08-01	Record low water at Kaub restricts Rhine barge shipping	Drought restriction	ongoing	3 Significant
2026-07-20	Houthi embargo on Saudi shipping and attacks at Bab el-Mandeb	Security incident	ongoing	3 Significant
2026-07-10	Russia halts commercial shipping through the Kerch Strait	Security incident	ongoing	5 Critical
2026-07-01	Panama Canal cuts Neopanamax draft and daily transit slots	Drought restriction	ongoing	3 Significant
2026-03-25	Drone attacks halt oil loadings at Ust-Luga and Primorsk	Security incident	ended	2 Moderate
2026-03-01	Strait of Hormuz closed to most shipping during the Iran war	Security incident	ongoing	5 Critical
2026-01-31	Workers strike at Chittagong port over New Mooring Container Terminal lease	Labour action	ended	3 Significant
2025-10-14	United States and China levy port fees on each other's vessels	Regulatory or customs action	ended	1 Minor
2025-10-08	Lashing workers strike halts container handling at the Port of Rotterdam	Labour action	ended	2 Moderate
2025-10-05	Pilot work-to-rule and national strike disrupt Port of Antwerp-Bruges	Labour action	ended	2 Moderate
2025-04-28	Iberian power blackout halts container terminals at Spanish ports	Infrastructure failure	ended	1 Minor
2025-04-26	Explosion and fire at Shahid Rajaee Port near Bandar Abbas	Fire	ended	2 Moderate
2024-11-10	Lockout of longshore workers closes Port of Montreal terminals	Labour action	ended	2 Moderate
2024-11-04	Lockout of ship and dock foremen stops British Columbia ports	Labour action	ended	3 Significant
2024-10-01	Dockworkers strike halts US East and Gulf Coast container ports	Labour action	ended	2 Moderate
2024-09-25	Hurricane Helene closes the Port Tampa Bay and Port Manatee shipping channels	Weather stoppage	ended	2 Moderate
2024-09-04	Typhoon Yagi halts container handling at Hong Kong and Shenzhen terminals	Weather stoppage	ended	2 Moderate
2024-08-22	CN and CPKC lock out rail workers and stop Canadian freight rail	Labour action	ended	2 Moderate
2024-07-07	Hurricane Beryl closes the Houston, Galveston, Freeport and Texas City ports	Weather stoppage	ended	2 Moderate
2024-05-01	Container ships wait for berths at the Port of Singapore	Congestion episode	ended	2 Moderate
2024-03-26	Ship strikes Key Bridge and closes the Baltimore ship channel	Collision or casualty	ended	3 Significant
2024-03-04	Gang violence halts container and oil terminals at Port-au-Prince	Terminal closure	ended	3 Significant
2023-11-19	Attacks on shipping in the Red Sea divert traffic around Africa	Security incident	ongoing	5 Critical
2023-11-10	DP World Australia disconnects its network after a cyber incident	Cyber incident	ended	2 Moderate
2023-10-01	Vessel congestion at the Port of Durban container terminals	Congestion episode	ended	3 Significant
2023-08-31	Typhoon Saola halts port work in Hong Kong and Shenzhen	Weather stoppage	ended	2 Moderate
2023-07-17	Russia ends Black Sea Grain Initiative participation and strikes Ukrainian ports	Security incident	ended	3 Significant
2023-07-04	Ransomware stops container handling at the Port of Nagoya	Cyber incident	ended	2 Moderate
2023-07-01	Longshore strike stops cargo at British Columbia ports	Labour action	ended	3 Significant
2023-06-12	Cyclone Biparjoy suspends operations at Gujarat ports	Weather stoppage	ended	2 Moderate
2023-03-01	Drought cuts draft and daily transits at the Panama Canal	Drought restriction	ended	4 Severe
2023-02-22	Cyclone Freddy halts cargo handling at the port of Beira in Mozambique	Weather stoppage	ended	2 Moderate
2023-02-06	Earthquake and container fire close Iskenderun port in Turkey	Port closure	ended	3 Significant
2022-12-05	EU ban on seaborne Russian crude and the G7 price cap take effect	Sanctions action	ongoing	2 Moderate
2022-11-24	Cargo truckers strike cuts container movement at South Korean ports	Labour action	ended	3 Significant
2022-10-29	Russia suspends its part in the Black Sea Grain Initiative for four days	Security incident	ended	1 Minor
2022-10-04	Low water closes two stretches of the Lower Mississippi River to barge traffic	Drought restriction	ended	2 Moderate
2022-09-27	Second eight day dockworkers strike at the Port of Felixstowe	Labour action	ended	3 Significant
2022-09-27	Hurricane Ian closes Tampa, Manatee, Port Canaveral and Jacksonville ports	Weather stoppage	ended	2 Moderate
2022-09-13	Typhoon Muifa halts port operations at Shanghai and Ningbo-Zhoushan	Weather stoppage	ended	2 Moderate
2022-08-21	Dockworkers strike for eight days at the Port of Felixstowe	Labour action	ended	3 Significant
2022-08-04	Live fire exercise zones around Taiwan divert shipping	Security incident	ended	3 Significant
2022-07-01	Low water at Kaub restricts Rhine barge shipping in summer 2022	Drought restriction	ended	3 Significant
2022-06-09	Warning strikes stop work at German North Sea ports	Labour action	ended	4 Severe
2022-03-28	Shanghai COVID-19 lockdown restricts trucking to the port	Regulatory or customs action	ended	3 Significant
2022-02-24	Ukraine's Black Sea ports close to commercial shipping after the invasion	Port closure	ended	4 Severe
2021-11-16	Floods cut both rail lines and the highways serving the Port of Vancouver	Infrastructure failure	ended	2 Moderate
2021-08-28	Hurricane Ida closes New Orleans and the Lower Mississippi River	Weather stoppage	ended	2 Moderate
2021-08-11	Meishan container terminal at Ningbo-Zhoushan closed for two weeks	Terminal closure	ended	2 Moderate
2021-07-24	Typhoon In-fa halts container handling at Shanghai and Ningbo ports	Weather stoppage	ended	2 Moderate
2021-07-22	Cyberattack on Transnet disrupts South African container terminals	Cyber incident	ended	2 Moderate
2021-05-25	COVID-19 controls cut container handling at Yantian in Shenzhen	Terminal closure	ended	3 Significant
2021-05-20	Container ship X-Press Pearl burns and sinks off Colombo	Fire	ended	1 Minor
2021-03-23	Container ship Ever Given grounds and blocks the Suez Canal	Vessel grounding	ended	4 Severe
2021-02-14	Winter storm closes Houston, Galveston, Texas City and Corpus Christi ports	Weather stoppage	ended	2 Moderate
2020-12-20	France closes its border to freight from the United Kingdom	Regulatory or customs action	ended	2 Moderate
2020-12-09	Oilseed workers strike halts grain exports at Rosario area ports	Labour action	ended	3 Significant
2020-10-01	Container ship queue off Los Angeles and Long Beach	Congestion episode	ended	2 Moderate
2020-08-04	Explosion at the Port of Beirut halts port operations	Fire	ended	3 Significant
2020-04-01	Carriers withdraw sailings on Asia to Europe and transpacific services	Capacity withdrawal	ended	2 Moderate
2019-09-08	Vehicle carrier Golden Ray capsizes and blocks the Brunswick channel	Collision or casualty	ended	2 Moderate
2019-07-19	Iran seizes the tanker Stena Impero in the Strait of Hormuz	Security incident	ended	3 Significant
2017-06-27	NotPetya malware halts Maersk and APM Terminals port operations	Cyber incident	ended	3 Significant
2016-08-31	Hanjin Shipping receivership leaves container ships outside ports	Capacity withdrawal	ended	3 Significant

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