By combining Automated Identification System (AIS) data, monitoring containership movements several times a day at some 50 major ports, with Drewry’s own insights into carrier schedules and shipping capacity, both services deliver a high level of actionable, dynamic and detailed intelligence on what is happening in the current week and what will happen this month in the container market - by major trade route, region or major port.

Updated weekly, the Drewry Cancelled Sailings Tracker provides a ‘snap-shop’ of cancelled sailings on a particular day. The data is obtained from carriers and is highly dynamic, particularly in the current, unstable Covid-19-impacted market. By monitoring closely and acting on the weekly Cancelled Sailings Tracker metrics, shippers and forwarders will be able to anticipate delays and longer lead times or rollovers on specific major trade routes and for specific weeks, and select sailings based on the latest data on the incidence of cancellations by alliance and by week. Ports and carriers will be able to forecast or plan for expected changes in overall carrier activity and number of sailings.

Also updated weekly, the Drewry Containership Waiting Time Tracker calculates average waiting times that ships wait outside a port before berthing, at 44 major ports, for the last 2 weeks. By monitoring the end-of-week Ship Waiting Time Tracker for the just-ended week, shippers, forwarders, carriers and other stakeholders will be able to anticipate potential delays at the port of arrival and to monitor the trend away from or back to normal levels and compared with the previous weeks.

“The Coronovirus (Covid-19) crisis is having a profound and far-reaching impact on international shipping and global commerce,” said Philip Damas, Managing Director and Head of Drewry Supply Chain Advisors. “With these new weekly tracking services our intention has been to provide an extra level of operational visibility to industry stakeholders; whether shippers, forwarders, carriers, truckers or terminal operators. Perhaps more so than ever, up to date and relevant intelligence is needed to enable shippers to respond to capacity bottlenecks and ocean freight volume volatility, and quickly develop contingency plans to mitigate possible disruptions to their shipping services.”

In the coming days Drewry will be combining these tracking services with its World Container Index to provide a consolidated assessment of market volatility.

Further Information: Download Weekly Full Report

Summary tracker index information is published weekly on the Drewry website, however, access to Drewry’s weekly Containership Cancelled Sailings and Waiting Time (combined) Report is restricted to subscribers of Drewry’s container and port sector research services.

• Drewry Cancelled Sailings Tracker – updated weekly/unrestricted access
• Drewry Containership Waiting Times – updated weekly/unrestricted access

Updated weekly, Drewry’s Cancelled Sailings Tracker provides a ‘snap-shop’ of cancelled sailings on a particular day. The data is obtained from carriers and is highly dynamic, particularly in the current, unstable Covid-19-impacted market. By monitoring closely and acting on the weekly Cancelled Sailings Tracker metrics, shippers and forwarders will be able to anticipate delays and longer lead times or rollovers on specific major trade routes and for specific weeks, and select sailings based on the latest data on the incidence of cancellations by alliance and by week. Ports and carriers will be able to forecast or plan for expected changes in overall carrier activity and number of sailings.

Also updated weekly, Drewry’s Containership Waiting Time Tracker calculates average waiting times that ships wait outside a port before berthing, at 44 major ports, for the last 2 weeks. By monitoring the end-of-week Ship Waiting Time Tracker for the just-ended week, shippers, forwarders, carriers and other stakeholders will be able to anticipate potential delays at the port of arrival and to monitor the trend away from or back to normal levels and compared with the previous weeks.

N.B. Waiting times vary considerably by ship size and by week and an adverse metric (long waiting time) does not necessarily mean that the port will remain congested for the next weeks or that the ships will be held waiting for the next weeks.

For both cancelled sailings and ship waiting times, Drewry compares the latest metrics for the current year against the same period of last year, with the assumption that the previous year (pre-Covid-19) was “normal”. Drewry may change the definition of normal as new trend data and further data sets are added.