Asian Ports Suffering Severe Congestion & Vessel Delays, US Liner Freight Rates Surge Sharply While European Lanes Stay Weak
August 5, 2026 — Major ports across Asia are plagued by operational bottlenecks and widespread schedule disruptions recently. A large volume of cargo originally scheduled for July shipment has been pushed back to August. Coupled with intentional capacity cuts by major carriers, container freight rates on Westbound and Eastbound US lanes have skyrocketed, forming a divergent market landscape for container shipping. Disrupted by adverse weather conditions, vessels calling at Shanghai and Ningbo Ports face delays of 3 to 5 days on average. Shipping schedules at Singapore, Malaysia and other Southeast Asian ports are also set back by around 3 days, dragging down vessel on-time performance. Massive cargo backlogs, carriers’ capacity control via blank sailings and space allocation limits, as well as restricted transit capacity at the Panama Canal limiting loading volumes of large vessels bound for US East Coast, jointly fuel the rally of US ocean freight rates. SCFI Rebounds Sharply, US La...