In its latest analysis, Sea-Intelligence has shed light on the growing phenomenon of “vessel bunching,” which refers to the number of sailings in a given week exceeding the scheduled weekly services. This occurrence is becoming a pressing challenge for ports, terminals, and supply chain stakeholders.

Sea-Intelligence explains, “For every weekly deep-sea liner service, one vessel would typically depart from an origin region each week. However, in reality, multiple vessels may depart in the same week on the same service due to vessel delays, shortages, or the use of extra-loader vessels to accommodate excess demand or cargo backlog.” As a result, if 17 sailings occur in one week but only 15 weekly services are scheduled, vessel bunching equals 2.

Before the pandemic, vessel bunching was relatively low, but the pandemic caused a dramatic surge in this inefficiency. Analysts note that while conditions began to normalise towards the end of 2023, the recent Red Sea crisis has triggered a new spike in vessel bunching, returning it to levels close to the pandemic peak.

“Higher vessel bunching puts immense pressure on ports and terminals,” says Alan Murphy, CEO of Sea-Intelligence. “Even if the offered capacity remains constant over two weeks – for example, no vessel in one week and two vessels in the next – this uneven distribution creates an extraordinarily high workload in one week, with none in the second.”

This creates ripple effects across the entire logistics network. As Murphy highlights, ports are not the only ones impacted. “This bottleneck leads to congestion across trucking, rail, and barge capacity, exacerbating the strain on already stretched supply chains.”

Murphy concludes with, that given current data “There is no sign that the pressure on ports is about to ease.” In this challenging landscape, investing in visibility software and tools that provide actionable insights is not just a choice, but a necessity for BCOs and LSPs to stay ahead and mitigate the growing risks in global supply chains.

The Need for Supply Chain Visibility in Combating Vessel Bunching

Vessel bunching can be viewed as a proxy for the pressure on ports and the likelihood of congestion. To manage this effectively, BCOs and Logistics Service Providers (LSPs) need more than just awareness; they need real-time insights into their supply chain to make business-critical decisions.

This is where supply chain visibility software becomes essential. With real-time data analytics, BCOs and LSPs can foresee vessel delays, adjust their plans accordingly, and counteract disruptions caused by vessel bunching. These tools can also provide visibility into climate-related risks, helping firms manage the environmental impacts of their operations while ensuring efficiency.