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Maersk Golden Week blanks: AE15 Qingdao 28 Sep; AE12/AE1 and TP8/TP12 early Oct

Maersk’s Golden Week advisories list concrete blank sailings on Asia–Europe and Transpacific strings as China’s Mid-Autumn (25–27 Sep) and National Day (1–7 Oct) holidays approach. Asia–Europe: AE15 640W/645E first load Qingdao ETD 28 Sep; AE12 641W/648E Ningbo ETD 8 Oct; AE1 641W/648E Shanghai ETD 10 Oct. Transpacific: TP8 640E Busan blanking proforma 9 Oct (eastbound) and TP8 644W Los Angeles 1 Nov (westbound); TP12 641E Ningbo 9 Oct (eastbound) and TP12 647W Newark 18 Nov (westbound). Maersk

Maersk published Golden Week network notices for Far East–Europe (20 August 2026) and Transpacific (28 August 2026) ahead of China’s National Day holiday window. The carrier says it is balancing the network for forecast demand reductions and reduced workforce to handle cargo, with coverage plans so customers can keep booking on usual channels. Inducement calls on alternative sailings are flagged for some Transpacific port coverage.

Asia–Europe blanks listed: Week 40 AE15 voyage 640W/645E, first load port Qingdao, ETD 28 September 2026; Week 41 AE12 voyage 641W/648E, Ningbo, ETD 8 October 2026; Week 41 AE1 voyage 641W/648E, Shanghai, ETD 10 October 2026. These dates matter because Mid-Autumn Festival holidays (25–27 September) and Golden Week (1–7 October) sit back-to-back, compressing export cutoffs into the final working days of September.

Transpacific blanks listed: eastbound TP8 voyage 640E (first port blanking Busan, proforma ETD 9 October) and TP12 voyage 641E (Ningbo, 9 October); westbound TP8 voyage 644W (Los Angeles, 1 November) and TP12 voyage 647W (Newark, 18 November). For importers sourcing from China into US West or East Coast, the operational cue is to lock replacement capacity and revised ETAs now, and to treat early-October blanks as overlapping with post-holiday factory restarts rather than as a mid-holiday pause only.

Source: Maersk

Topics

  • logistics
  • golden-week
  • blank-sailing
  • maersk
  • transpacific
  • europe
  • procurement
  • china

All news

Sea-Intelligence: Golden Week Asia-US/Europe capacity at records; watch mid-late Oct last-minute blanks

World Ports Organization (22 Sep 2026), citing Sea-Intelligence, says scheduled capacity over the four-week Golden Week window reaches record levels: Asia-North America West Coast 1.49m TEU (+18% vs 2025), Asia-USEC 935,200 TEU (+17%), Asia-North Europe 1.50m TEU (+27%), Asia-Med 1.14m TEU (+49%). Planned cuts are modest (about 9% Transpacific; 3.7% North Europe; 6.1% Med). Congestion-driven double-sailings (7/11 on Asia-USWC in weeks 40/41) inflate the print. Once the backlog clears into weaker

BRF/Drewry: 58 East–West blanks in weeks 40–44 (8%); treat Oct 8 as reopen, not a guaranteed China ETD

BRF Logistics (29 Sep 2026) cites Drewry’s 25 September tracker: 58 announced blank sailings among 712 planned major East–West voyages for weeks 40–44 (28 Sep–1 Nov), an 8% cancellation rate, with about 64% of those blanks on eastbound Transpacific. The note lists published Maersk examples still relevant into early October—AE12 Ningbo 8 Oct, AE1 Shanghai 10 Oct, TP8 Busan 9 Oct, TP12 Ningbo 9 Oct—and stresses that terminals may stay open while factories, trucking, CFS and documents restart on di

NRF: September set as busiest US import month of 2026; Drewry 77 East-West blanks

Green Worldwide's Week 39 freight update (23 Sep 2026) says the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates now forecast 2.31 million TEUs of US container imports in September (+9.6% year on year), which would make September the busiest import month of 2026 if the forecast holds. NRF cites China weather-related vessel delays, some Panama Canal rerouting, and still-supportive retail inventory demand. Drewry expects 77 blank sailings in Weeks 39-43 out of 720 planned (about 11%), with 55% on

Hapag-Lloyd Golden Week NA blanks: WC2 Shanghai 10 Oct; US2 Ningbo 7 Oct; AA7 Ningbo 1 Oct

Container News (30 Aug 2026), citing Hapag-Lloyd, lists three Far East–North America sailing omissions around China’s Golden Week. WC2: Guthorm Maersk voyage 640E from Shanghai omitted (week 40; scheduled departure 10 Oct 2026); Xingang–Qingdao–Pusan rotation remains. US2: Navios Unison voyage 641E from Ningbo omitted (week 41; 7 Oct); alternative coverage via US1, with Maersk Shams departing Haiphong 2 Oct and an extra Norfolk call. AA7: Wan Hai A13 from Ningbo cancelled (week 40; 1 Oct).

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