Global container shipping reliability continued its gradual recovery in August 2025, according to Sea-Intelligence’s latest Global Liner Performance (GLP) report. Despite persistent operational pressures, schedule reliability reached its second-highest August level since 2019, supported by stronger year-on-year performance and standout results from leading carriers and alliances.
Global Schedule Reliability Improves, but Delays Persist
In August 2025, global industry schedule reliability edged up month-on-month by 0.1 percentage points to 65.3%, marking a significant 12.7 percentage-point improvement year-on-year. This reflects continued stabilisation following the severe disruptions seen earlier in the decade.
However, reliability gains were tempered by slightly longer delays. The average delay for late vessel arrivals increased to 4.80 days, up 0.07 days from July, highlighting that while more vessels are arriving on schedule, late arrivals remain operationally challenging.
Among individual carriers, Maersk led the top-13 operators with 76.4% schedule reliability, followed by Hapag-Lloyd at 72.4%. Most carriers clustered in the 60–70% range, while Wan Hai recorded the lowest performance at 53.3%, underscoring uneven recovery across the sector.
Gemini Cooperation Dominates Alliance Reliability Rankings
Alliance performance showed a clear hierarchy in July–August 2025, particularly under Sea-Intelligence’s dual measurement approach covering both “All Arrivals” and “Trade Arrivals.”
The Gemini Cooperation emerged as the clear leader, achieving 89.9% reliability across all arrivals and 86.9% across trade arrivals, far outperforming its peers. MSC followed with reliability levels close to 80%, while the Premier Alliance lagged significantly, posting results in the mid-50% range.
For legacy groupings, where both metrics are identical, the Ocean Alliance recorded 66.9% schedule reliability, placing it well behind Gemini but broadly in line with overall market averages.
The August 2025 GLP data confirms that global liner shipping is moving steadily toward operational normalisation, with meaningful year-on-year improvements in schedule reliability. Yet, rising delays for late arrivals and widening performance gaps between carriers and alliances indicate that recovery remains uneven. As new alliance structures mature, reliability metrics are expected to converge but for now, leaders like Maersk and the Gemini Cooperation are clearly setting the benchmark for the industry.
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Source: INTERMODAL
