Global shipping schedule reliability weakened in February as carriers grappled with mounting network disruptions from the ongoing Hormuz‑related diversions, continued rerouting via the Cape of Good Hope, and seasonal blank sailings tied to Lunar New Year festivities, Sea-Intelligence said in a new report.

The Danish shipping consultancy company said in February, global industry schedule reliability dropped by 3.2 percentage points month-on-month (M/M) to 59.0%, making this the lowest figure recorded since April 2025.

Global container schedule reliability eased to 62.4% in January 2026, it stood at 62.8% in December.

On a year-on-year (Y/Y) level though, schedule reliability was higher by 5.0 percentage points.

Sea-Intelligence said with declining schedule reliability, the average delay for late vessel arrivals also deteriorated, increasing M/M by 0.16 days to 5.49 days.

"This is the highest figure since February 2025. Despite this, on a Y/Y level, the February 2026 figure was 0.04 days lower," Alan Murphy, CEO, Sea-Intelligence, added.

Hapag-Lloyd remains as most-reliable

Hapag-Lloyd was the most reliable top-13 carrier in February 2026 with schedule reliability of 67.4%, with five more carriers in the 60-70% range, six in the 60-70% range, and Wan Hai the least reliable carrier with schedule reliability of 47.9%.

The report — which covers schedule reliability across 34 different trade lanes and 60+ carriers — added that only three carriers recorded an M/M improvement, while twelve carriers recorded a Y/Y improvement.

In the first two months of 2026, the newly formed Gemini Cooperation continued to outperform its peers, posting the strongest schedule reliability among the major alliances with 79.1% across all arrivals and 80.2% on trade‑lane arrivals.

MSC followed at 63.7% and 60.9%, respectively, while Premier Alliance trailed at 58.4% for all arrivals and 56.6% for trade arrivals.

Among the legacy groupings — where "all arrivals" and "trade arrivals" remain identical —Ocean Alliance recorded 68.9%.

Sea‑Intelligence noted that it now publishes both "all arrivals" and "trade arrivals" metrics to ensure comparability between the new alliances and the traditional destination‑region methodology introduced before February 2025.