Port Congestion Update: China to Northern Europe

Status as of 18 September 2026: sailings from North China to Northern Europe are running about 5 to 8 days behind the published proforma schedule, and rolled bookings are being reported on the peak-week services. For an FIBC order that has not yet been loaded, plan an extra 7 to 10 days on the arrival date. This note is valid to 31 October 2026 and is reviewed weekly while conditions hold.

What our own bookings show this month

• Space: the tightest window is the last week of each month. Bookings confirmed before the 20th have been loading close to plan; bookings placed after the 20th have been the ones that roll.
• Equipment: 40HC supply has been workable at the gateways we book through. Pallet-wide loading, or any request for a specific container type, should be raised at booking rather than at the cut-off.
• Transit: the sea leg is running 5 to 8 days long against proforma. Most of that is waiting time at the destination end rather than slow steaming, so a faster service does not automatically recover the days.
• Rollovers: on our September shipments, two of five bookings loaded 4 to 9 days after the booked cut-off, and both were in the last week of the month.

What to do with an FIBC order in this window

Three practical changes cover most of the exposure. First, place the booking as soon as the production date is firm rather than after the goods are packed, because a packed bag waiting in the yard earns nothing. Second, move the requested shipping date into the first half of the month where the order allows it. Third, give your receiving site a realistic arrival range instead of the proforma date, so a delayed container does not turn into a missed unloading appointment on top of the transit delay.

If the order is already packed and waiting, ask us for the container number and the actual loading date on the day it loads. We pass these on as soon as they are issued, and they are the only reliable way to tell a rolled booking from a slow one.

QINFENG’s first-hand experience

We ship from several North China gateways and book through more than one forwarder, so we see a same-week comparison rather than a single service view. In September 2026 the pattern was consistent: orders booked early in the month loaded on or within two days of the cut-off, while last-week bookings slipped. The delay also landed at the destination end rather than at loading, which matters for planning because the goods were already on the water when the arrival date moved. When a shipment does slip we reissue the shipping documents and the arrival estimate to the customer in the same week instead of waiting for the final sailing confirmation, and we flag any order whose contract shipping window is at risk before the booking is placed.

What this note does not cover

This describes scheduling, space and rollover conditions observed on our own North China to Northern Europe bookings between mid-September and the end of October 2026, and the buffer we recommend for open orders. It is not a market forecast and not a commitment: no sailing, cut-off or arrival date is guaranteed, and a schedule can change within a week. It does not cover other trade lanes, inland haulage, customs clearance at either end, or demurrage and detention at the destination. No carrier, terminal or port authority is named, and the ranges quoted are typical observations from our own bookings rather than published figures.