Kuehne+Nagel (K+N) said according to its newly-launched freight disruption indicator, supply chain challenges remains in some of the world's busiest ports — most of them happening in North American ports.

In a statement, the Swiss transport and logistics firm said currently, the indicator reflects a waiting time and scale of 11.6 million TEU days – a persistently high level.

"In these nine specific ports, normal would be less than one million TEU waiting days. At present, roughly 80% of the disruption is associated with North American ports," K + N added, noting that the said indicator is an extension of the visibility that Kuehne+Nagel’s acclaimed Seaexplorer provides on global sea freight disruptions.

It added that based on the latest Seaexplorer data, 612 container vessels are currently at anchor or drifting in front of major global ports.

"The trendline information provided by the indicator enhances the ability of our customers to predict and plan for likely future impacts on their supply chain and identify the best course of action. With the indicator, we have implemented a new level of data analytics for sea logistics," commented Otto Schacht, member of the Management Board, Kuehne + Nagel International AG, responsible for Sea Logistics.

The Seaexplorer disruption indicator was launched to measure the efficiency of the world container shipping networks.

The indicator shows the cumulative TEUs waiting time in days in the ports of Prince Rupert, Vancouver/Seattle, Oakland, Los Angeles/Long Beach, New York, Savannah, Hong Kong, Shanghai/Ningbo as well as Rotterdam/Antwerp.

The disruption indicator also provides insights as well as advanced analytics and trends on the current situation impacting global trade.