The visibility platform says more than 96,000 shipment diversions were recorded over the 16-week period. Weekly diversion volumes fell sharply in Week 16, dropping by 29% to 3,836 shipments — the steepest single-week decline in the dataset. However, project44 warns that the decline in new diversions does not mean the network has returned to normal.
Instead, the disruption appears to have entered a new phase. Routing decisions are becoming more stable, but the cargo already redirected to alternative ports continues to create pressure in yards, terminals and onward transport networks.
According to project44, the cumulative impact of the rerouting has created a “structural overhang” of cargo at ports that were not originally intended to handle those volumes. This is particularly visible in import dwell times, which reflect how long cargo remains at a port before gate-out.
Jebel Ali has been the most affected original destination in the dataset. Project44 says shipments originally bound for Jebel Ali accounted for 32% of all destination changes during the disruption. Of those shipments, 46% were redirected to Khawr Fakkan, 17% to Fujairah, 5% to Navi Mumbai, 4% to Jeddah and 3% to Salalah.
Khawr Fakkan has become the main alternative gateway. It received 31% of all newly assigned final destinations across the 16-week period, the highest share of any port. At the same time, the port also began losing traffic to other destinations as congestion mounted, showing how the disruption has cascaded from one fallback port to another.
The most striking deterioration is visible at Navi Mumbai. Project44 says import dwell there rose every week without exception, from 4.9 days in Week 1 to 19.9 days in Week 16. The platform says the port absorbed 1,475 shipments of Jebel Ali overflow in the first eight weeks, contributing to yard saturation and operational strain.
Other ports show different patterns. Salalah’s import dwell time peaked at 36.6 days in Week 5 but has since declined to 17.5 days, suggesting that the port has been able to work through part of the initial surge. Singapore’s import dwell rose from 2.9 days before the conflict to 9.2 days in Week 16, while Jeddah remained elevated at around 12 days, compared with a pre-conflict baseline of 4.6 days.
The Cape of Good Hope route also shows a mixed picture. Project44 says Port Elizabeth is the only Cape port with sustained above-baseline vessel activity, averaging roughly twice its pre-conflict weekly vessel capacity over the 16 weeks. Durban was moderately elevated but inconsistent, while Cape Town, Walvis Bay and Maputo had largely normalised by Week 16.
The findings suggest that even when routing decisions begin to stabilise, the operational effects of a chokepoint disruption can persist much longer. For shippers and forwarders, the key issue is no longer only whether cargo is being diverted, but where the accumulated backlog is being absorbed and how long containers remain stuck before onward movement.
The latest Drewry World Container Index also shows that wider container market pressure remains high. Drewry’s composite index rose 5% to $4,166 per 40ft container on 25 June, its highest level since September 2024, supported mainly by stronger transpacific rates.
