Global container shipping schedule reliability fell month-on-month by 3.5 percentage points to 61.4 per cent in October 2025, according to Sea-Intelligence, reported Saint Petersburg's PortNews.

The decline marked only the second significant monthly drop this year and followed three months of stable performance. Year-on-year, reliability rose 11.1 percentage points.

The average delay for late vessel arrivals edged up by 0.04 days to 4.98 days month-on-month, though still 0.87 days lower year on year.

Maersk was the most reliable among the top 13 carriers in October at 74.1 per cent, followed by Hapag-Lloyd at 69.6 per cent and MSC at 65.9 per cent. Nine of the remaining ten carriers were in the 50-60 per cent range, with PIL lowest at 44.9 per cent.

Sea-Intelligence continues to use two alliance metrics: "All arrivals," introduced in February, and "Trade arrivals," aligned with earlier methodology. The measures are expected to converge once new alliances are fully implemented.

In September and October, Gemini Cooperation recorded 88.6 per cent reliability for All arrivals and 86.0 per cent for Trade arrivals. MSC followed with 77.5 per cent and 80.5 per cent respectively. Premier Alliance reported 64.6 per cent and 54.6 per cent, while Ocean Alliance posted 65 per cent.

Sea-Intelligence, based in Denmark, provides analytics and advisory services for the global container shipping industry, specialising in operational performance metrics and reliability assessments.