Golden Week 2026: 17 Blank Sailings Already Announced, and What It Does to Your October Bookings
Golden Week 2026: 17 Blank Sailings Already Announced, and What It Does to Your October Bookings
Executive Summary
Maersk, Hapag-Lloyd and MSC have cut 17 sailings for weeks 39 to 41. The damage lands after the holiday, not before it.
| 4.9% |
| 5.0% |
| 6.0% |
| 05 points |
| 58 points |
| 60 points |
Overview
Most buyers assume the squeeze comes before 1 October, when factories rush to ship. It does, but that is a space problem, and space problems can be bought.
Week 41 is different. Four Asia-Europe sailings are gone: Maersk AE12 out of Ningbo on 8 October, Maersk AE1 out of Shanghai on 10 October, Hapag-Lloyd NE2 out of Shanghai on 10 October, and MSC's LION service GL641W. That is a schedule problem. You cannot buy your way onto a ship that is not sailing.
Put simply, before the holiday the ships are full. After the holiday, they are not coming.
Key Details
Both Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd published substitute sailings. They are real, but do not treat them as a fallback you can ring up on 1 October.
For North Europe, NE2 can move to NE3 Maersk Cambridge departing Shanghai on 6 October, or NE1 Al Nefud departing Shanghai on 10 October. For the Mediterranean, SE3 out of Qingdao on 28 September and SE1 out of Ningbo on 8 October are gone. The working options are SE4 Berlin Maersk from Qingdao on 1 October and SE3 Mayview Maersk from Ningbo on 12 October.
The catch is that every forwarder in East China is calling the same desk about the same four vessels.
Looking Ahead
The SCFI composite for 4 September printed 3,590.05 points, up 80.52 on the week. Read the lane detail and your own lane may look nothing like the headline.
North Europe fell 4.9% to 2,188.58 points and the Mediterranean fell 5.0% to 2,619.60 points, while South America rose 6.0% to 1,502.22 and the US West Coast rose 5.0% to 1,615.14. Europe has now fallen for several straight weeks, and market rates for the first half of September sit around USD 3,600 to 4,200 per 40ft container.
My read: that is not a cheap market. That is a market with too many ships chasing too little cargo. For Europe, a quarterly fixed rate beats chasing the spot index right now.
Implications
Pull every booking you hold for 5 to 12 October and check the vessel name and voyage against the current schedule. Do it today, not after your supplier confirms a cargo date.
Watch out for one thing. Ask whether the cut-off has moved. Substitute sailings often add a port call, and an extra call usually pulls the cut-off forward by one or two days.
Book the space first. Amend the details later. The bookings that get rolled are the ones waiting on somebody else to reply.
Market Outlook
Bottom line, treat this as a schedule change and not a rate story. Confirm your October space before 15 September, when most carriers close out their holiday programmes. The question worth putting to your forwarder today is a simple one: which of my October bookings is sitting on a sailing that no longer exists?JETWAY Supply Chain is your execution partner on the ground in China — based in Tianjin, licensed as an NVOCC (MOT) and a member of CIFA, FIATA and WCA. We handle special cargo and compliance (dangerous goods, chemicals, batteries) across ocean, air, rail and road, and we pre-check your documents before the box is stuffed so your filing clears the first time. Send us your next booking and we will run the checks above against your sailing date. Request a quote.