Trans.info (10 Sep 2026), citing Linerlytica’s 8 Sep Market Pulse, reports more than 4 million TEU of containership capacity absorbed by port congestion, with waits of up to 12 days at Shanghai and Ningbo. Congestion is also feeding delays into southern China and Southeast Asian ports.
Kuehne+Nagel operational data as of 8 Sep showed a seven-day average vessel wait of 4.72 days at Shanghai — with Waigaoqiao WGQ2 and WGQ5 over nine days and Yangshan YS12 about seven days — and 3.58 days at Ningbo. Typhoon Saudel earlier cost Ningbo about 78 cumulative closed hours and Shanghai’s Yangshan/Waigaoqiao 54 and 48 hours. Sea-Intelligence reported July global schedule reliability at 56.4% (down 6.1 pp month on month), with Shanghai on-time arrivals at only 21%.
Linerlytica expects the export backlog to keep ships fully utilized even through Golden Week (1–7 Oct), when factories usually slow and carriers blank sailings. Maersk Asia–Europe blanks cited include Qingdao 28 Sep, Ningbo 8 Oct, and Shanghai 10 Oct. Drewry expects about 47 East–West blank sailings in weeks 37–41, roughly 6% of planned departures.