This is the second in a multi-part series in which we attempt to unearth dynamics of the shipping industry, by analyzing publicly available import shipment data in the United States.

Vessel delays can cause a variety of issues downstream. Truck dispatch schedules may be disrupted, warehouse allocation may go out of the window, labor planning will have to be reworked, future shipments may be affected, and of course, customers will be let down.

In this article, we’ll look at delayed shipments, and try to unearth congestion points, tricky routes and delayed shipping lines. We’ll also try to track how these delays have varied over the years.

The answers to these questions come from an analysis of publicly available import data from the United States Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) Automated Manifest System. This data spans approximately five years, and covers 180 million data points. Here’s what we found.

Which US ports see the most delays?

Click here to read the rest of this article on the Semantics3 blog