Drewry’s Cancelled Sailings Tracker is a vital tool for supply chain professionals to monitor disruptions in the container shipping industry. The tracker provides real-time data on vessel cancellations, helping shippers manage their logistics more effectively by understanding capacity changes and delays.
Weekly analysis: 07 March 2025
In the key East-West trade lanes — Transpacific, Transatlantic, and Asia-North Europe & Med — 47 sailings have been cancelled between weeks 11 (10 Mar-16 Mar) and 15 (7 Apr-13 Apr), out of a total of 715 scheduled sailings, representing a 7% cancellation rate.
Drewry predicts that for the next 5 weeks, most East-West cancellations will hit the Transpacific Eastbound (43%), followed by Asia-North Europe & Med (30%) and Transatlantic Westbound (28%).
Schedule reliability is expected to decline over the next five weeks, with forecast indicating that approximately 93% of vessels will operate on time.
Container spot freight rates on key East-West routes continued to decline. On 6 March, Drewry’s WCI Composite Index dropped 3% WoW to $2,541 per 40ft container, marking a 23% YoY decline. Transpacific rates fell 7%, Transatlantic dipped 1%, while Asia-Europe/Med saw a slight 1% increase.
Carriers, including MSC and major alliances, are reducing capacity by cancelling sailings and postponing new services on these routes in an effort to slow the decline in rates. However, weak demand combined with oversupply is undermining the effectiveness of these measures.
With capacity still rising—April’s supply expected to be 31% higher than February’s—rates will likely keep falling. Oversupply, the end of frontloading, and resumed Suez transits may extend the decline into late 2025. Proposed rate hikes have already been postponed, and further increases seem unlikely.
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Source: Drewry
