Significant Increase in Blank Sailings by Container Lines During China's Golden Week

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Despite initial concerns that shipping companies were not taking proactive measures to address the seasonal slowdown associated with the week-long Chinese Golden Week holidays, the count of canceled voyages has seen a sharp rise.

At the end of August, Sea-Intelligence had cautioned that carriers had reduced their capacity by only 3% during the four-week period encompassing Golden Week and the subsequent three weeks. In comparison, a 12.9% reduction in capacity had been implemented during the equivalent period in 2019, the year before the pandemic hit.

As reported by Seatrade Maritime News last week, the two largest carriers, MSC and Maersk, had already announced the cancellation of 11 and five services, respectively, during the Golden Week period.

However, over the past two weeks, shipping lines have unveiled an additional 29 blank sailings. In recent years, carriers have become more agile in their use of blank sailings, often announcing cancellations much closer to the scheduled voyage date than in the past.

Sea-Intelligence pointed out that carriers were now on a trajectory to blank capacity at levels comparable to 2019 and the average for the years 2017 to 2019.

Alan Murphy, CEO of Sea-Intelligence, observed, "For Asia – North Europe capacity reductions now exceed previous years. The percentage of blanked capacity on Asia-North Europe, across the four-week period, is now at 19.9%, which is the higher than the 2017-2019 period."

Source: Phaata.com (According to Seatrade-Maritime)

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