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Q4 2025 marked a shift from disruption-driven volatility to persistent, lane-specific reliability challenges in global container shipping. Extended routings, alliance restructuring, seasonal congestion, and winter operating conditions kept actual transit times consistently misaligned with planned schedules. Instead of a broad recovery, performance varied sharply by trade lane, reinforcing the growing gap between carrier plans and execution.
The Portcast Transit Time Trends Report (Q4 2025) analyses planned vs actual ocean transit times across key global trade lanes using October–December data.
Q4 2025 Trade Lane Highlights
1. North America → North / West Europe: Reliability weakened toward year-end as congestion and winter operating conditions reduced schedule recovery.
2. Asia (China–Korea–Japan) → North / West Europe: Extended routings and port-side constraints continued to weigh on transit performance, with only limited easing late in the quarter.
3. Asia (China–Korea–Japan) → North America: Execution stabilized with low volatility, but planned schedules remained optimistic relative to actual performance.
4. North America → South America: Shorter regional lanes remained resilient, though actual transit continued to run slightly slower than planned.
5. North / West Europe → North America: Export reliability deteriorated late in Q4 as congestion and inland constraints disrupted outbound flows.
Download the full report for detailed lane-by-lane analysis, planned vs actual comparisons, and Q1 2026 planning implications across global trade lanes.
