Event Intelligence
1.7 million TEU vessel space absorbed in delays
Shipping disruptionGlobalActive Updated 28th September 2026 · 16:55
- Significance
- Material
- Impact
- Negative
- Confidence Confidence indicates how reliable ProcIntel considers the event assessment based on the quality, quantity and independence of the supporting evidence. It does not measure the event's importance.
- Low
- Evidence
- 1 source 1 signal
Overview
What happened Source facts
Global container vessel schedule reliability remains somewhat stable around 60‑65%, showing no signs of improvement, and in stark contrast to the 2011‑2019 normality of 70‑80%. Furthermore, late vessel arrivals are now settling into 5‑5.5 days of delay, up from the pre-pandemic norm of 3‑4 days. This structural shift to a larger risk of vessel delays, and their longer durations, inexorably leads to a larger share of global capacity being rendered unavailable, as vessels stuck in delays do not move cargo. The share of these delayed vessels combined with the duration of the delays, can be used to calculate the amount of global deep‑sea capacity effectively absorbed by delays (Figure 1). In 2011‑2019, the container shipping industry was quite stable. During that time, on average, only 2.2% of the world's container shipping capacity was tied up by delays. The industry accepted this 2.2% rate as a standard part of balancing supply and demand. However, following the pandemic, things have changed a lot. Now, a total of 5.0% of all global deep‑sea capacity is tied up. This means that 2.8% more shipping space is absorbed right now, compared to what was considered to be normal pre-pandemic. We can use the current global fleet size to calculate how much total cargo space is currently unusable due to vessel delays. Right now, with a 5% absorption rate, the global market is "missing" capacity for 1.7 million TEUs from continuous delays. To understand how big this is, a fleet of that exact size would be the 8 th largest container shipping company in the entire world, sitting just behind Evergreen. If we look at only the extra 2.8% of absorbed capacity above the pre‑pandemic baseline level of 2.2%, it equals 1.0 million TEUs of absorbed capacity. That specific amount of missing space is almost equal to the entire total capacity of HMM, the current 8 th largest container shipping line. --- 000 --- END OF PRESS RELEASE --- 000 --- All quotes can be attributed to: Alan Murphy, CEO, Sea-Intelligence. For more information, please contact: ia@sea-intelligence.com, am@sea‑intelligence.com, drs@sea-intelligence.com Download press release in PDF Download press release in Word Download Excel file with the above chart(s)
Suggested considerations
Derived from this Event's rating and type — prompts for your team to evaluate, not reported facts and not recommendations.
- Monitor for explicit timing evidence.
- Determine whether internal exposure warrants earlier investigation.
No explicit date was tightly bound to the matched event text, so no occurrence date is claimed.
Suggested Considerations
These are prompts for a procurement team to evaluate, generated from this Event's rating and type. They are not reported facts and not instructions — ProcIntel does not know your contracts, suppliers or exposure.
- Monitor for explicit timing evidence.
- Determine whether internal exposure warrants earlier investigation.
How to read this Event
- Source facts what the original source reported.
- ProcIntel assessment ProcIntel's own interpretation of those facts.
- Consideration a suggested question for your team — never a recommendation to act.
Source Facts
Only what the sources reported. Nothing on this page is ProcIntel's interpretation.
Recorded source facts
Global container vessel schedule reliability remains somewhat stable around 60‑65%, showing no signs of improvement, and in stark contrast to the 2011‑2019 normality of 70‑80%. Furthermore, late vessel arrivals are now settling into 5‑5.5 days of delay, up from the pre-pandemic norm of 3‑4 days. This structural shift to a larger risk of vessel delays, and their longer durations, inexorably leads to a larger share of global capacity being rendered unavailable, as vessels stuck in delays do not move cargo. The share of these delayed vessels combined with the duration of the delays, can be used to calculate the amount of global deep‑sea capacity effectively absorbed by delays (Figure 1). In 2011‑2019, the container shipping industry was quite stable. During that time, on average, only 2.2% of the world's container shipping capacity was tied up by delays. The industry accepted this 2.2% rate as a standard part of balancing supply and demand. However, following the pandemic, things have changed a lot. Now, a total of 5.0% of all global deep‑sea capacity is tied up. This means that 2.8% more shipping space is absorbed right now, compared to what was considered to be normal pre-pandemic. We can use the current global fleet size to calculate how much total cargo space is currently unusable due to vessel delays. Right now, with a 5% absorption rate, the global market is "missing" capacity for 1.7 million TEUs from continuous delays. To understand how big this is, a fleet of that exact size would be the 8 th largest container shipping company in the entire world, sitting just behind Evergreen. If we look at only the extra 2.8% of absorbed capacity above the pre‑pandemic baseline level of 2.2%, it equals 1.0 million TEUs of absorbed capacity. That specific amount of missing space is almost equal to the entire total capacity of HMM, the current 8 th largest container shipping line. --- 000 --- END OF PRESS RELEASE --- 000 --- All quotes can be attributed to: Alan Murphy, CEO, Sea-Intelligence. For more information, please contact: ia@sea-intelligence.com, am@sea‑intelligence.com, drs@sea-intelligence.com Download press release in PDF Download press release in Word Download Excel file with the above chart(s)
This Event rests on a single report. It has not been corroborated by a second, independent source.
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1.7 million TEU vessel space absorbed in delays
Global container vessel schedule reliability remains somewhat stable around 60‑65%, showing no signs of improvement, and in stark contrast to the 2011‑2019 normality of 70‑80%. Furthermore, late vessel arrivals are now settling into 5‑5.5 days of delay, up from the pre-pandemic norm of 3‑4 days. This structural shift to a larger risk of vessel delays, and their longer durations, inexorably leads to a larger share of global capacity being rendered unavailable, as vessels stuck in delays do not move cargo. The share of these delayed vessels combined with the duration of the delays, can be used…
Open original report → sea-intelligence.com
Linked Signals
Every collected Signal that contributed to this Event, with how it was matched.
| Published | Headline | Source | Matched text | Extraction confidence | Method |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19th August 2026 | 1.7 million TEU vessel space absorbed in delays | Sea-Intelligence - Press Room | vessel delays | 95.0 | high precision phrase |
Entities
The real-world companies, places, commodities and organisations this Event involves.
Region 1
- Global reused entity extraction · confidence 75.0
Why ProcIntel Rates This
Every rating below is produced from the logged facts by consistent, rules-based scoring — never from the tone or wording of the source.
Significance Significance estimates the potential procurement impact of the event, including factors such as supply, cost, operations, geography and strategic importance.
3 · Material- This type of disruption typically has a moderate procurement impact.
- A single geography identified so far.
- No specific organisation linked yet — geographies, commodities and routes do not count as organisations.
- No procurement category has been determined for this event.
- Time horizon is not yet assessed for individual Events; a standard short-term assumption is used.
Confidence Confidence indicates how reliable ProcIntel considers the event assessment based on the quality, quantity and independence of the supporting evidence. It does not measure the event's importance.
2 · Low- Reported only by secondary sources so far — no primary/official confirmation yet.
- Reported by a single source so far — not yet independently corroborated.
- Some key facts (e.g. exact date) are still missing or unconfirmed.
- Evidence was last updated within the last month.
Urgency How soon the evidence already identified for this event suggests action may be needed. Unknown means no sufficiently explicit or quantified timing evidence has been identified -- ProcIntel never infers a timeframe where the evidence does not support one.
UnknownTiming not established. No sufficiently explicit or quantified timing evidence has been identified. Procintel has not inferred urgency where timing evidence is insufficient.
Impact Direction Whether the procurement impact of this development is assessed as negative, positive, or neutral/mixed.
NegativeProvisional default — not yet reviewed.