• As a leader in sea logistics, Kuehne+Nagel closely tracks and collects data on the movement of vessels, including actual arrivals and vessel delays.
• A summary of this analysis, based on neutral data, is published monthly in our Schedule Reliability Report, available on Sea News.

Executive Summary

Global schedule reliability measured 52.8% in February 2026, remaining above 2025 levels. 

Average vessel delays stayed stable, with LATE vessels arriving 3.5 days behind schedule and ALL vessels delayed by 1.7 days.

Performance across major corridors was mixed, with the strongest results on North America East Coast ↔ South America West Coast (88.5%) and North Europe ↔ South America West Coast (81.3%).

Asia‑related corridors continued to show mid‑range stability, including Asia ↔ North America West Coast (57.1%) and Asia ↔ South America East Coast (56.7%).

 Featured trade lane – Asia ↔ Oceania

The Asia ↔ Oceania corridor recorded 53.3% reliability in February, improving 3.4 points since January and performing closely in line with global averages. 

LATE and ALL vessels were delayed by 3.7 and 1.7 days, respectively, reinforcing the lane’s alignment with broader global trends. 

Year‑on‑year developments were mixed across directions: Asia → Oceania strengthened to 56.8%, while Oceania → Asia softened to 50.3%, though delay patterns remained comparable to last year.

Overall, February reflects a stable month with moderate improvements in reliability, consistent delay patterns, and varied performance across trade lanes, carriers, and alliances.

Global On-Time  Performance

In February 2026, global on‑time performance reached 52.8%. The 2026 line remains positioned above 2025 and 2024 levels but below 2023 levels for the same period. 

February 2025 registered 48.0%, while 2023 stood at 62.6%, highlighting the mid‑range placement of 2026 within recent-year performance bands. 

The average arrival delays for both LATE and ALL vessels align with the moderate on‑time performance level, and delays remain relatively stable.

In February, LATE vessels were delayed by an average of 3.5 days, while ALL vessels were delayed by 1.7 days. 

Reliability per Trade  Lane

In February 2026, performance varied significantly across lanes. The strongest results were on North America East Coast ↔ South America West Coast (88.5%), North Europe ↔ South America West Coast (81.3%), and North America West Coast ↔ South America West Coast (81.2%).

Mid‑range performance was observed across most Asia‑linked trades, including Asia ↔ North America West Coast (57.1%) and Asia ↔ South America East Coast (56.7%), while weaker lanes included Asia → North Europe (39.1%) and Asia ↔ Mediterranean/Black Sea (43.6%).

Year‑on‑year, results were mixed: some lanes strengthened sharply, such as North Europe ↔ South America West Coast (55.7% → 81.3%), while others softened, including Mediterranean/Black Sea → South America West Coast (81.5% → 58.0%).

Reliability on Asia ↔ Oceania

This month, we take a closer look at schedule reliability on the Asia ↔ Oceania trade lane.

Overall reliability began the year at 49.9% and improved by 3.4 percentage points to 53.3% in February.

In February, LATE and ALL vessels were delayed by an average of 3.7 and 1.7 days. 

Both on-time performance and the average vessel delays closely mirror the global average. 

The following pages provide a breakdown of performance for each leg.

Southbound

Vessels sailing from Asia to Oceania recorded an on-time performance of 56.8% in February, a 5.9 percentage-point year-on-year improvement.

In addition, this leg exceeds the global average by 4.0 percentage points. 

LATE vessels arrived on average 3.5 days behind schedule, while the average delay across ALL vessels was 1.5 days.  

Northbound

On the leg from Oceania to Asia, the 2026 performance measures are below last year’s.

In February, reliability was 50.3%, 4.1 percentage points lower than in February 2025. 

The average delay for LATE vessels was 3.7 days, a slight improvement from 3.9 days measured last February.

While the delay across ALL vessels was 1.9 days, compared to 1.5 days in February 2025. 

Methodology

Calculating the on-time performance

To calculate the on-time performance of a service, Kuehne+Nagel uses vessel schedules from the carrier(s) offering that service. Only carrier schedules that match our quality criteria are used for the schedule reliability calculation.

As carriers constantly update schedules, they become more accurate the closer vessels get to a destination port. For this reason, we have implemented a "schedule freeze period" of 14 days prior to actual vessel arrival. In other words, we benchmark the actual arrival with what carriers last announced 14 days earlier.

To identify the actual time of arrival, Kuehne+Nagel consumes AIS (Automatic Identification System) vessel data. All vessels that arrive within a +/- 24-hour window at the port of destination relative to the last announced arrival are considered on time. Port call omissions and blank sailings announced after the 14-day freeze are excluded from the calculation. 

This report focuses exclusively on the direct services of the top 12 carriers (MSC, Maersk, CMA CGM, COSCO, OOCL, Hapag-Lloyd, ONE, Evergreen, HMM, ZIM, Yang Ming, and PIL).

Assigning carrier services to multiple trade lanes

Many services operate on various trade lanes (e.g., a carrier service between Asia and North Europe also calls ports in the Middle East and/or the Mediterranean), and therefore, carrier services may be listed in multiple trade lanes.

Definition of trade lanes

There is no common standard for defining tradelanes. This means, depending on the source, you will find different trade lanes, each with its own regions, countries, and ports.Kuehne+Nagel has defined its own mapping approach and assigned ports to thesetrade lanes accordingly. Vessel on-time performance is captured in our reports for defined main trades, i.e., trades that move large container volumes on vessels. Therefore, niche trades and services within a trade, called "Intra Trade" services (e.g., Intra-Asia, Intra-Europe), are currently out of scope.

A PDF version of this report can be found here.