Roughly 12% of global container ship capacity now sits idle in port congestion, the highest level in four years, according to C.H. Robinson's October Edge Report.

The logistics provider's monthly briefing shows usable tonnage shrinking across East Asia, Northern Europe and the Indian Subcontinent even as the underlying vessel fleet stays well-supplied. Carriers and shippers are paying for the gap between headline supply and deployable supply.

"Capacity may exist in the ocean network, but port congestion and steps the carriers are taking to get schedules back on track can change where and when that capacity is actually available," C.H. Robinson said.

How bad is the disruption?

Congestion is absorbing one out of every eight slots in the global container fleet. The October report puts the most acute pressure on three regions:

• East Asia — Trans-Pacific services are trimming capacity ahead of China's October 1–7 Golden Week holiday, with planned blank sailings extending through mid-October.
• Northern Europe — Schedule reliability is slipping as vessels bunch at hub ports.
• Indian Subcontinent — India–North America connections remain constrained by limited vessel space and disrupted transshipment through Colombo.

Why are carriers skipping port calls?

Recent typhoons in Asia have forced omissions, and pile-ups at major transshipment hubs are creating missed connections and longer cargo backlogs. Containers sitting at congested terminals also complicate the repositioning of empties to the markets that need them.

C.H. Robinson draws a sharp line between a planned blank sailing and a mid-voyage port omission. A blank sailing is announced in advance, and shippers can reroute cargo before it leaves the origin. An omission after a ship is already at sea forces containers onto a feeder, through a different hub, or onto an alternative service.

What does Golden Week mean for Trans-Pacific rates?

Space tightened as exporters pushed cargo out before factories closed for the holiday. Planned blank sailings will cut effective capacity through roughly mid-October. The first departures after Golden Week now face rollover risk as factories restart and export volumes return.

Whether that tightness holds depends on the post-holiday rebound. A strong volume return could keep preferred sailings full and support recent rate levels. A weaker rebound would let space normalize later in October.

Where is the pressure easing?

Asia–Europe lanes are showing softer pricing as underlying supply improves, even with congestion nibbling at deployable capacity. The combination of healthy vessel supply and tightening usable tonnage is producing an unusually uneven ocean market heading into the fourth quarter.

What is driving schedule reliability down?

C.H. Robinson ties the deterioration to a stack of overlapping shocks:

• Typhoon-related port omissions across Asia
• Panama Canal slot restrictions
• Conditions in the Middle East
• Vessel bunching at congested hubs

Each factor alone is manageable. Stacked together, they are pushing reliability metrics sharply lower across the major east-west corridors.

What should shippers watch?

C.H. Robinson's framing — usable capacity rather than headline fleet capacity — points shippers toward four practical levers:

• Port selection, especially exposure to congested transshipment hubs
• Container availability at origin
• Carriers' ability to recover schedules when connections break
• Booking lead time, given tighter post-holiday space

With more than one-tenth of global vessel capacity effectively held up in queues, the industry's attention has shifted from how many ships exist to where those ships actually are.

Heading into the final quarter, the spread between headline fleet size and deployable tonnage looks set to widen further if Golden Week demand rebounds, Panama Canal restrictions tighten, or typhoon-season disruption extends into November.