Blank Sailings Leading To Confusion And Misinformation

While carriers have been announcing a series of blanked voyages covering the run up towards 2024, the programme has seemingly led to widespread confusion and misinformation about the status of containers.

The ongoing lack of demand versus overcapacity continues to drive the market and every carrier alliance has confirmed several blanked sailings through to the end of November. The 2M Alliance has tried to bring some predictability to unreliable schedules by completely cancelling one loop for the next seven weeks, effectively creating a 'winter schedule'.

However, this does not explain why we are currently witnessing a lack of communication and misinformation as to the whereabouts of containers when a sailing has been blanked. Croft Cargo have borne witness to several incidents of carriers either not notifying us of a change in vessel, or incorrectly advising which vessel a container was shipped aboard, and we are not alone.

With demand on the Asia-Europe market looking set to be low for the foreseeable future, and at least until after Chinese New Year, blanked sailings will undoubtedly feature for some time to come. It is therefore critical that accurate information accompanies them.

Croft Cargo are continuing to do all that we can to minimise disruption to customer's supply chains and are monitoring this situation closely. For further information, please do not hesitate to contact a member of the team.

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