Global container schedule reliability improved for the third consecutive month in May 2026, reaching 64.7 per cent, the highest figure recorded this year, according to Sea-Intelligence’s Global Liner Performance report, issue 178.
The 2.5 percentage point month-on-month gain was tempered by a 1.2 percentage point year-on-year decline. Average delays for late arrivals continued to deteriorate, rising to 5.52 days, up 0.88 days year-on-year.
Maersk was the most reliable individual carrier among the top 13 in May at 78.2 per cent, ahead of Hapag-Lloyd at 76.0 per cent and MSC at 71.6 per cent. Wan Hai recorded the lowest reliability in the group at 38.0 per cent.
At alliance level, the Gemini Cooperation recorded 91.4 per cent reliability across trade arrivals in April and May 2026, maintaining a considerable lead over its peers. MSC followed at 79.7 per cent, Ocean Alliance at 69.7 per cent and Premier Alliance at 54.0 per cent.
Sea-Intelligence noted that the all-arrivals metric, introduced in February 2025 to enable comparability with the new alliances, will be discontinued from the July 2026 edition of the report, with the publication reverting solely to trade arrivals as its standard measure.
The full GLP report covers schedule reliability across 34 trade lanes and more than 60 carriers.
For more information:
Sea-Intelligence – https://www.sea-intelligence.com/
