Ocean Timeliness Indicators for TPEB at October 2020 Level

Flexport’s Ocean Timeliness Indicator measures the amount of time taken to ship freight from the point at which cargo is ready to leave the exporter to when it is collected from its destination port. The ocean shipping world tends to run along “trade lanes.” The two biggest trade lanes carry goods from Asia to North America and from Asia to Europe. The OTI captures timeliness on each of these. In the latest update, the time taken for complete voyages on the TPEB route were their lowest since October 2020.

The Methodology: The Flexport Ocean Timeliness Indicator (OTI) utilizes data from Flexport’s ocean shipping operations for an expansive view of a container’s journey. Updated on a weekly basis, it shows the time taken to transit from Cargo Ready Date at exporters’ gate to the Destination Port Departure date when products are ready to leave port to go to importers. Measures are shown for Far East Westbound (e.g., China-to-Europe) and Transpacific Eastbound (e.g., China-to-US) routes. More details about the OTI can be found in our background report.

Week to September 17, 2023
In the past week, the FEWB and the TPEB both decreased.

The TPEB decreased to 57 days from 58 days, matching the fastest times since October 2020. FEWB decreased to 65 days from 68 days, inline with the average level in November 2020.

Prior improvements in cargo ready to depart times may still be moving through the system as Asian ports debottleneck. The indicator may also be showing that while the worst of late 2021 build up in congestion may be over, levels are still well above pre-pandemic level.

Deeper insights into the development of the OTI can also be gleaned from the Stage 1 measure. This covers the period from Cargo Ready Date to Origin Port Departure journeys that completed that stage in the past four weeks. It can provide an early warning of future bottlenecks.

In the latest calculations, covering the four weeks to September 17, 2023 (week 38) timings on TPEB decreased by 2.6% and timings on FEWB decreased by 3.6%.

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Please direct questions about the Flexport OTI to economics@flexport.com.

Disclaimer: The contents of this report are made available for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon for any legal, business, or financial decisions. Flexport does not guarantee, represent, or warrant any of the contents of this report because they are based on our current beliefs, expectations, and assumptions, about which there can be no assurance due to various anticipated and unanticipated events that may occur. This report has been prepared to the best of our knowledge and research; however, the information presented herein may not reflect the most current regulatory or industry developments. Neither Flexport nor its advisors or affiliates shall be liable for any losses that arise in any way due to the reliance on the contents contained in this report.

Flexport Indicators