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Global liner reliability rises to 62.2 per cent

Global liner schedule reliability rose to 62.2 per cent in March 2026, according to Sea-Intelligence GLP issue 176, with carriers posting broad year-on-year gains despite persistent vessel delays.

In March 2026, global schedule reliability rose by 3.9 percentage points month-on-month to 62.2 per cent, marking the joint-highest level recorded in 2026. On a year-on-year basis, reliability improved by 5.2 percentage points.

Average delay for late vessel arrivals also improved month-on-month, falling by 0.14 days to 5.48 days. However, compared with March 2025, delays were still 0.36 days higher.

Among carriers, Hapag-Lloyd AG led the top 13 with a schedule reliability of 72.3 per cent, followed by A.P. Moller – Maersk at 70.8 per cent. Eight carriers recorded reliability between 60 and 70 per cent, while two were in the 50–60 per cent range. Wan Hai Lines recorded the lowest performance at 46.6 per cent.

Only two carriers saw month-on-month declines in reliability, while 11 of the 13 carriers posted year-on-year improvements, indicating a broadly positive trend across the liner sector.

READ: Container shipping profits collapse 95 per cent in Q4 2025

In alliance performance, the Gemini Cooperation recorded 76.8 per cent reliability across all arrivals and 77.6 per cent across trade arrivals.

MSC followed with 65.4 per cent (all arrivals) and 61.6 per cent (trade arrivals), while the Premier Alliance recorded 57.2 per cent and 56.5 per cent, respectively.

The Ocean Alliance registered 65.9 per cent, with no distinction between all and trade arrivals under the legacy measurement framework.

Sea-Intelligence noted that traditional alliance benchmarking is based on destination-region arrivals.

However, due to the introduction of new alliances and data limitations from February 2025, an additional metric based on all arrivals was introduced, including origin-region calls on East–West trades.

Both datasets continue to be published, with “all arrivals” aligned to the newer methodology and “trade arrivals” comparable with legacy alliance structures.

Recently, non-alliance carriers steadily pulled back from the Asia–North America West Coast trade lane, with capacity falling to a 10-year low as alliance structures continued to consolidate control over Transpacific supply.