Global on-time performance drops in June

Overall global on-time performance of container ships dropped to 49.9 percent in June from 50.2 percent in May.

The Red Sea situation, port congestion and increased demand keep reliability significantly below 2023 levels in June. This trend may persist into the next months, says Kuehne+Nagel in its latest Schedule Reliability Report.

"Trade performance decreased on five of the 11 major trades. The largest decrease was on Asia↔North Europe of 7.3 percentage points to 34.9 percent. In contrast, the largest improvement was on the Asia↔North America trade, which increased by 2.6 percentage points to 56.6 percent."

Blank sailing data covering June (weeks 23 to 26) shows that carriers blanked nearly five percent of the total offered capacity on the westbound leg of the Asia-North Europe trade.

"On the eastbound of the Transpacific, carriers announced 20 blanked sailings during that period, representing around eight percent of the total capacity offered."

Despite the slight drop in on-time performance, the monthly average arrival delay of late vessels improved, the update added. "Compared to May, the monthly average improved by 0.3 days to 3.8 days in June. This average has remained relatively stable this year as delays ranged between 4.1 and 3.8 days over the last six months."

Trades which saw improvements include Asia↔Oceania, Mediterranean/Black Sea ↔ North America, Mediterranean/Black Sea ↔ North Europe, and Mediterranean/Black Sea ↔ South America, the update added.