The reliability of the routes in global container shipping experienced a slight setback in January 2026, with a drop of 0.4 percentage points compared to December to stand at 62.4%, according to the latest report published by the consultancy Sea-Intelligence. Despite the month-to-month decline, this figure represents the highest monthly record throughout the period between 2021 and 2026, evidencing a trend of progressive recovery in the punctuality of regular service lines after the serious operational discrepancies that affected the sector during the pandemic years and the subsequent logistics crisis.
In year-over-year terms, the improvement is considerable. The reliability of January 2026 exceeded the figure recorded in the same month of the previous year by 11 percentage points, confirming that the sector has achieved significant advances in the regularity of its services over the past twelve months.
The average delay of ships arriving late slightly increased in January, with an increase of 0.07 days compared to the previous month, reaching 5.17 days, the highest level since February 2025. Nevertheless, the figure remains 0.21 days lower than recorded a year earlier, maintaining the trend of gradual reduction in delays at port calls.
Among the 13 largest shipping companies in the world, Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk topped the punctuality ranking in January with a reliability of 72.2% each. Both companies were above the sector average and consolidated their position as the most regular operators in the market at the start of the year. Behind these two shipping companies, seven companies recorded reliability levels ranging from 60% to 70%, while four others fell in the 50% to 60% range. At the bottom of the ranking, PIL (Pacific International Lines) was the carrier with the worst performance, with 50.1% punctuality on its calls.
Sea-Intelligence noted that only seven of the major shipping companies improved their records compared to the previous month, while twelve did so year-over-year, a statistic that underscores that the sector's widespread improvement is perceived more clearly on the twelve-month horizon than in the monthly evolution.
The report also includes an analysis of performance by shipping alliances during the period from December to January 2026. Gemini Cooperation, the operational alliance formed by Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd that began its services in February 2025, recorded the best performance with 89.5% reliability in the overall arrivals count and 88.3% in trade arrivals. These figures place Gemini as the alliance with the highest operational regularity in the market, at a considerable distance from the rest of the groupings.
MSC, which operates independently after its exit from the former 2M alliance, ranked second with 68.7% reliability in total arrivals and 66.8% in trade arrivals. Ocean Alliance, the grouping that includes CMA CGM, COSCO, and Evergreen, recorded 64.0% reliability. For its part, Premier Alliance achieved 58.8% in the overall arrivals count and 59.4% in trade arrivals.
The Danish consultancy explained that traditional performance metrics for alliances are calculated based on arrivals in destination regions. However, for newly formed alliances, Sea-Intelligence has introduced a broader measure called all arrivals, which also incorporates calls in origin regions in east-west traffic. This methodology allows for a more homogeneous comparison between legacy alliance structures and the new operational configurations that have emerged after the sector's reorganization in 2025.
January data confirms that the container shipping industry is maintaining a recovery trajectory in its reliability levels, although the pace of improvement has moderated in recent months. The difference of nearly 40 percentage points between the most reliable alliance (Gemini, at 89.5%) and the worst-performing individual carrier (PIL, at 50.1%) illustrates the operational disparity that persists among the various market players.