The present disclosure provides for avoiding packet loss and delay that occurs during conventional link switchover by moving link switchover logic from a downstream PORT (Protocol Independent Multicast Over Reliable Transport) routing element to an upstream PORT routing element. An upstream PORT routing element detects the failure of a forwarding interface for a multicast datastream, where the forwarding interface is coupled to a downstream PORT routing element. In response to detecting the failure, the upstream PORT routing element determines a set of candidate interfaces that are also coupled to the downstream PORT routing element. The upstream PORT routing element selects a new interface from the set of candidate interfaces and installs the new interface as a replacement forwarding interface for the multicast datastream.