Global Schedule Reliability Hits Year-to-Date High in March 2026

The latest report from Sea-Intelligence highlights positive signs in global shipping operations, as carrier on-time performance has rebounded to its highest level since the beginning of 2026. However, the performance divergence among individual carriers and alliances remains distinctly visible.

Sea-Intelligence has officially released issue 176 of its Global Liner Performance (GLP) report, updating schedule reliability figures through the end of March 2026. The report provides a comprehensive overview based on data from over 60 carriers operating across 34 major trade lanes.

Improved Reliability and Reduced Vessel Delays

In March 2026, industry-wide schedule reliability recorded a month-over-month (M/M) increase of 3.9 percentage points, reaching 62.2%. This marks the highest figure achieved so far in 2026.

Compared to the same period last year (Y/Y), this rate is also significantly higher, boasting a margin of 5.2 percentage points.

Alongside the improved on-time ratio, the average delay for late vessel arrivals also showed a positive shift, dropping by 0.14 days from the previous month to 5.48 days. Despite this, on a year-over-year (Y/Y) basis, the figure for March 2026 remains 0.36 days higher.

Top 13 Carrier Rankings: Hapag-Lloyd Takes the Lead

Looking at the 13 largest global carriers (Top-13 carriers), the reliability rankings in March 2026 display a fairly clear stratification:

●    Hapag-Lloyd rose to the top of the rankings with a schedule reliability of 72.3%.

●    Maersk followed closely in second place at 70.8%.

●    Eight carriers recorded on-time performance ranging between 60% and 70%.

●    Two carriers fell into the 50% to 60% bracket.

●    Wan Hai was the lowest-performing carrier of the month, managing a rate of only 46.6%.

Notably, the report points out that only two carriers recorded an M/M decline in performance, whereas 11 out of the 13 carriers successfully improved their schedule reliability Y/Y.

Alliance Performance: A New Multi-Dimensional Picture

To provide a more accurate assessment amidst the reshuffling of maritime alliance structures, Sea-Intelligence continued to provide two parallel metrics: "All arrivals"—which includes port calls within the origin region on East/West trades—and "Trade arrivals"—the traditional metric that only counts port calls in the destination region.

Measurement results for February and March 2026 reveal:

●    Gemini Cooperation demonstrated outstanding performance with reliability reaching 76.8% (All arrivals) and 77.6% (Trade arrivals).

●    MSC recorded 65.4% (All arrivals) and 61.6% (Trade arrivals).

●    Premier Alliance achieved 57.2% (All arrivals) and 56.5% (Trade arrivals).

●    As for the Ocean Alliance (belonging to the "old" alliance structure, where these two metrics hold equivalent values), the on-time ratio was recorded at 65.9%.

With these positive shifts in March, the global shipping market is showcasing carriers' efforts to adjust capacity and optimize operations, paving the way for a more stable supply chain trajectory for import and export businesses.

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Source: Phaata.com (According to Sea Intelligence)

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