freight containership docked to a port
21 April 2026

China–Australia Blank Sailings Drive Freight Rate Surge in 2026

None of us anticipated that 2026 would begin with continuous rate increases in the logistics industry: freight rates in March and April 2026 have reached the highest levels compared to 2024. Not only are the rates exceptionally high, but we have also observed frequent rollings, comparable to the period before Chinese New Year. Why have freight rates surged so dramatically, and why are there so many rollings? Beyond the conflicts in the Middle East, we have reviewed all services from China to East Australia and found a significant number of blank sailings in 2026. Please refer to the summary below: 

 

Service  Carrier / Operator  China routing / main loading ports  Blank sailings / omissions (Jan-May 2026) 
WALLABY  MSC  HKG / Yantian / Xiamen / Shanghai / Ningbo on some loops; also Qingdao / Shanghai / Nansha / Shekou on another loop  7 
A3C  COSCO / OOCL / ANL / PIL  Xiamen / Shanghai / Ningbo, plus some sailings linked with Shekou / HKG  6 
CA2  TSL / PIL / YML / SLS  Qingdao / Shanghai / Nansha / Shekou  6 
NEAX  HMM / EMC / ONE / HPL  Qingdao / Shanghai / Ningbo / Yantian  4 
CAT  YML / PIL / EMC / SNL / TSL / HPL  Shanghai / Ningbo / Shekou  3 
NEW PANDA / ZAX  ZIM / MSC  Qingdao / Shanghai / Ningbo / Nansha / HKG / Yantian  2 
A3S  COSCO / OOCL / ANL / PIL  Xiamen / Shekou / HKG  2 
JKN  MSK / COSCO / ONE  Shanghai / Yantian / HKG  2 
CNS  COSCO / OOCL / ANL / PIL  Shanghai / Ningbo / Shekou  2 

 

 

Most of A3C vessel capacity is over 7000teu, and from Jan till May, A3C has 6 blank salings,including 2 blank sailings in May, leading to tight space in May.  

CA2 also has 6 blank sailings, plus NEAX has 4 blank sailings, their routing is from Qingdao, hence Qingdao space is so tight.  

Wallaby has 7 blank sailings, and their contract clients have to shift their booking to A3 service / CAT service provider.  

BTW, carriers may withdraw some vessels from Oceania market to Middle East, because the Middle East ocean freight is much higher than Australia now.  

On the other hand, Chinese government decided to cancel export tax rebates for 249 products including ceramics, glass, and photovoltaics starting from 01/Apr. This led exporters of these products to rush shipments in March to secure the final rebates. This is also one of the reasons why contrary to the traditional off season trend in March, we did not see rate decreases but instead witnessed frequent rollings. 

Meanwhile, according to factories, it seems they get back some orders from Southeast Asia shippers in April, because Southeast Asia countries are on power shortage situation currently.

The variable affecting the market right now is the war in Middle East, and none of us can predict what impact this war will have on global supply chain and logistics.