GlossaryEN1 min readUpdated: Aug 29, 2026

Schedule Reliability

A shipper books a Shanghai–Hamburg sailing quoted at 40 days, then learns three weeks later that the vessel will arrive five days late.

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Last updated: 29 August 2026

Source: Sea-Intelligence Global Liner Performance Report; Frachtportal-Artikel «1,7 Millionen TEU fehlen»

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Check transit time: city-to-city index

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Definition & Explanation

A shipper books a Shanghai–Hamburg sailing quoted at 40 days, then learns three weeks later that the vessel will arrive five days late. Schedule reliability measures how often that happens: the share of a liner service's port calls that are actually made within a defined tolerance window, usually plus or minus one calendar day against the published schedule. Market analysts such as Sea-Intelligence publish the figure monthly by carrier and trade lane, alongside the average delay in days for the vessels that do arrive late. It is a core planning metric, because weak schedule reliability locks capacity into waiting time and puts transhipment connections at risk. It should not be confused with transit time, which describes the planned duration only, not whether it is met.

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Related Terms

Transit index

Check transit time: city-to-city index

P50/P80 transit times for sea, air and road — sourced and confidence-rated, not a carrier quote.

Open transit index Sea freight hub

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Schedule Reliability

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Related Terms

Check transit time: city-to-city index

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