Our weekly Cancelled Sailings Tracker provides a snapshot of blank sailings announced by each Alliance versus the total number of scheduled sailings, reports Drewry.
Across the major East-West head haul trades
Transpacific, Transatlantic, and Asia-North Europe & Med, 50 cancelled sailings have been announced between week 11 (11 Mar-17 Mar) and week 15 (8 Apr-14 Apr), out of a total of 650 scheduled sailings, representing 8% cancellation rate.
During this period, 44% of the blank sailings will occur on the Asia-North Europe and Med, 44% on the Transpacific Eastbound and 12% on the Transatlantic Westbound trade.
Over the next five weeks, OCEAN Alliance have announced 14 cancellations, followed by THE Alliance and 2M with 13 and 7 cancellations, respectively. During the same period, 16 blank sailings have been implemented by non-Alliance services.
As can be seen above, we are seeing a modest decline in carrier service reliability: on average 92% of the ships are expected to sail as scheduled, over the next five weeks.
On the ocean freight side, Drewry’s World Container Index fell 6% WoW to $3,287 per 40ft dry container, yet remained 112% higher than the December 2023 average ($1,548). This week, Transpacific rates fell by 6%, rates on Asia-Europe and the Med decreased by 7%, and Transatlantic rates saw a marginal 1% decline – the first in 7 weeks.
This week’s annual Transpacific Maritime (TPM) conference closed on March 6 with the Red Sea security situation continuing to disrupt trade. Discussions at the event primarily revolved around transpacific rates and routes for container imports from Asia, recognising the substantial surcharges and rate increases seen in January and February.
Shippers and BCOs appear to have been generally successful in adapting their lead times to accommodate the extended transit durations resulting from the rerouting of services via the Cape of Good Hope.
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Source: Drewry
