Attention! Halt! After the Spring Festival, global shipping will be reduced by 15%

Still, ships are tight, and major shipping companies are keeping capacity during the off-season to cope with a shortage of ships. The global shipping reduction strategy continues, with 99 out of 650 scheduled sailings cancelled during the five-week period from February 26 to March 3, a cancellation rate of 15%. 

Yangming pointed out that the frequent attacks on merchant vessels in the Red Sea caused by the problematic shipping schedule chaos may force supply chain adjustments, resulting in terminal congestion and shipment delays. This will cause continuous disruption to the supply and demand changes in the maritime market this year.

According to statistics from Delury, an international shipping specialist, there have been flight cancellations on all major routes around the world, including trans-Pacific and trans-Atlantic, as well as Asia-to-Northern Europe and Mediterranean routes. Between week 5 and week 9, 99 out of 650 scheduled voyages were cancelled, a cancellation rate of 15%. 

During this period, 56 percent of empty voyages will occur on trans-Pacific eastbound routes, 34 percent on Asia-Nordic and Mediterranean routes, and 10 percent on trans-Atlantic westbound routes. Over THE next five weeks, the Ocean Alliance announced the cancellation of 33 voyages, followed by The THE and 2M alliances with 22 each. At the same time, 22 blank flights were implemented for non-alliance services. According to the statistics, 85% of the ships are expected to sail according to the scheduled schedule in the next five weeks. However, the Red Sea crisis remains the biggest challenge to global flight movements. The problem of empty ships can also evolve rapidly as the market changes.

Ahead of the Lunar New Year, shipping companies have adopted a series of adjustment measures, including shortening voyages and speeding up navigation, to mitigate disruption caused by the diversion of the Red Sea. With the gradual easing of demand after the Lunar New Year and the commissioning of new vessels, adding additional capacity, disruptions and rising costs may have peaked.

However, the shortage of empty containers in Asian export hubs has created new challenges, prompting carriers to potentially add ships to ease the shortage.