Containership Delays for Late Arrivals Hit Highest Levels Since Pandemic

Containership delays have climbed in 2024, reaching levels not seen since the height of the pandemic and peak container volumes. Sea-Intelligence’s latest monthly review of container carriers’ performance across 34 trade routes highlights that disruptions have continued to impact the industry this year.

Sea-Intelligence CEO Alan Murphy notes that while schedule reliability has generally held steady between 50 and 55 percent this year, it has shown a slight decline since reaching a high in May. Murphy added, “Although 2024 has shown low volatility in schedule reliability, giving shippers a decent forecast month-to-month.”

In September, the industry’s schedule reliability dropped 1.2 percentage points, settling at 51.4 percent, the lowest point for 2024 and a two-year low. Although reliability had improved from a low in 2021, when only about a third of ships were on time, reaching over 50 percent by October 2022 and peaking at 64 percent in mid-2023, declines returned in late 2023 due to disruptions from Houthi activities in the Red Sea.

This current performance is a far cry from 2019 levels, before the pandemic, when containerships achieved 80 percent schedule reliability. Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd have set an ambitious goal of achieving 90 percent reliability on major routes with their upcoming Gemini Cooperation in 2025.

Maersk remains the most reliable carrier in September 2024, standing at 55.5 percent reliability, down from 70 percent the previous year. It was among just four major carriers, along with Zim, PIL, and Wan Hai, that managed to improve performance between August and September. Yet, compared to September 2023, major carriers saw a sharp drop, with an average reliability down from 60 percent to 47 percent. According to Sea-Intelligence, MSC, PIL, and Wan Hai each saw declines of over 20 percentage points year-over-year, and the average year-over-year drop was 13 percentage points.

Sea-Intelligence reports that the average delay for late containerships reached 5.67 days in September 2024, up 0.21 days from the previous month. This marks the third-worst September for delays, behind only the pandemic years of 2021 and 2022. The yearly average for 2024 has risen by half a day compared to 2023, though delays had briefly fallen below five days before recent rerouting.

According to Linerlytica, Asia remains the region most affected by port congestion, particularly in Chinese ports, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Korea. Increased congestion has also been seen at Savannah and major Northern European ports as of late October. With vessels rerouting around Africa and facing winter challenges off South Africa, individual ports have seen spikes in congestion due to vessel bunching, adding further delays.

Maersk warned that disruptions from the Red Sea rerouting may persist into 2025.