Xeneta: Global reliability plummets as Far East to Europe collapses to 6% on-time

Global reliability declined for the third month in a row in August, falling to 29% on-time arrivals, down 4 percentage points from July. This marks the second-worst schedule reliability in the past 12 months, with average delays increasing by nearly a full day, from +4.2 to +5.1 days. The Far East to Europe trade is experiencing its worst reliability levels since the height of the pandemic in late 2021, with just 6% of arrivals arriving on-time and an average delay of +8.2 days.

This is due to a combination of factors, including extended transit times, larger ships requiring longer berth stays, port congestion, and extreme weather events. The Far East to Europe trade is currently undergoing a major disruption, with four consecutive typhoons in China causing the loss of 1.1 million TEU at anchorage in Ningbo, Shanghai, and Yantian.

This has led to significant delays in Europe and North America, with carriers such as Hapag-Lloyd, CMA CGM, PIL, HMM, Wan Hai, and Yang Ming seeing their on-time arrival rates fall to twelve-month lows. Africa remains the most congested region, with average vessel wait times of 3.3 days, followed by the Middle East at 2.3 days. In Africa, Beira is experiencing particularly severe congestion, with 11.8 days of average wait time, driven by 17 vessels waiting per day.

The situation in the Middle East is more spread out, with ports like Sharjah, Djibouti, and Sohar experiencing high levels of congestion as well. To navigate these challenges, shipper should seek visibility into port congestion, vessel wait times, and delays to effectively manage their supply chain.