AFTER five decades in freight forwarding, I’ve seen firsthand how reliability underpins our industry. Customers value forwarders who can service their needs and manage their deliveries, even in challenging markets.
Yet, the liner shipping world of 2025 continues to rely on an old lever: the blank sailing.
Blank sailings, where a scheduled vessel voyage is cancelled or a port is skipped, are not new. They are a tool carriers use to balance supply with fluctuating demand. When demand softens, especially after major holidays or during periods of global uncertainty, carriers may reduce sailings to avoid running half-empty ships.
This helps stabilise freight rates and maintain operational efficiency. About 12% of scheduled sailings were cancelled between mid-September and mid-October 2025, according to Drewry’s report, with a notable spike during China’s Golden Week.
November is seeing 81 cancelled sailings, down from 96 in October, adding roughly 4 % more capacity and pointing to a gradual recovery. On the trans-Pacific eastbound trade, blank sailings declined from pandemic-level peaks to around 45 in November, while Asia–Europe services continue to absorb the largest share (about 35% of global blanks) with 48 cancellations announced for December 2025.
For Australian exporters and importers, these adjustments can feel particularly acute. Australia sits at the end of major east-west shipping networks, so when carriers adjust capacity on the Trans-Pacific and Asia–Europe loops, local services are often the first to be reduced or delayed. This can lead to missed deadlines, increased costs, and uncertainty for businesses relying on timely shipments.
From a freight expert’s perspective, blank sailings are often presented as a rational response to market conditions. When demand drops, carriers argue that maintaining full schedules would mean operating at a loss—an unsustainable scenario.
By adjusting supply, they seek to keep rates at viable levels and avoid destructive price wars that could destabilise the industry. However, this practice comes at a significant cost to shippers. Each cancellation can inflate spot rates, tie up working capital, and inject considerable uncertainty into supply chains.
For businesses, this unpredictability can disrupt planning, delay deliveries, and erode customer confidence. The lack of transparency around these decisions only compounds the challenge, as shippers and forwarders are often left scrambling to adapt to last-minute changes. Ultimately, while blank sailings may serve as a lever for carriers to manage their own risk, the burden of uncertainty and disruption falls squarely on the shoulders of shippers.
Early and clear communication from carriers is essential, but even then, the fundamental issue remains: blank sailings create an environment where trust and reliability are undermined, making it harder for businesses to operate with confidence.
Experienced freight forwarders aren’t fully tied down by rigid Time Volume Commitments (TVCs)—contracts that force a set volume of cargo to move within a specific timeframe. This independence means they can quickly adapt to changes in shipping schedules, blank sailings, or sudden shifts in demand, always seeking the best available option for each shipment.
Partnering with an experienced freight forwarder offers your business:
In today’s volatile shipping environment, partnering with an experienced freight forwarder gives your business the flexibility, resilience, and advocacy needed to keep goods moving—no matter what the market throws your way.
While carriers manage capacity, shippers and forwarders can respond by diversifying their carrier portfolios, building greater lead time into schedules, and maintaining open lines of communication with logistics partners.
These strategies help cushion the effects of sudden market shifts and ensure supply chain resilience.
Blank sailings are a lever in the complex machinery of global shipping—a mechanism to balance supply and demand in a volatile market. While they can create challenges for shippers, understanding the economic rationale behind them helps all parties navigate uncertainty with greater confidence.
Ultimately, trust and transparency remain the foundation of healthy supply chains. And in a world of manufactured scarcity, a trusted freight forwarder is your best ally for flexibility, advocacy, and peace of mind.