The clearest commercially material delays appear in major Asian container hubs and on the US Gulf–Asia LPG trade. In July, schedule reliability at Shanghai fell to 21%, while delays across global services absorbed an estimated 6.6% of containership capacity. Separately, congestion and cargo restrictions at the Panama Canal are encouraging LPG operators to consider ship-to-ship transfers or longer voyages around South America, with direct implications for voyage duration and fleet utilization.
The broader capacity effect is significant: port delays were keeping about 2.3m teu of containership capacity out of service, temporarily cushioning the market from additional vessel supply. A useful indicator to track is schedule reliability by port, alongside the share of fleet capacity delayed. Which operational metric are professionals using most reliably to distinguish temporary disruption from commercially persistent congestion?
