Turbulent Times: 2026 Container Outlook

Expert Insights from Peter Sand, Chief Analyst at Xeneta

Published by the Port of Rotterdam

Looking ahead to 2026, several key trends and developments are emerging that will affect the European container supply chain. Predicting the future is not an exact science. However, patterns do emerge based on data, and market analytics platform Xeneta excels at recognising those patterns.

Or, as they say, quoting Mark Twain: ‘History doesn’t repeat itself, but it

often rhymes.’

Global disruptions and geopolitical developments are affecting supply chains and creating challenges. Shippers have been battered and bruised in 2024 and 2025 due to trade wars and geopolitical conflicts. However, the tide seems to be turning for shippers, according to Xeneta’s 2026 Ocean Outlook report. ‘The year 2026 could be one to reimagine freight procurement and build greater resilience in supply chains,’ says Xeneta’s Chief Analyst Peter Sand.

Many of the key pain points for the year ahead are largely known and set to stabilise,

or at least not get much worse, according to Sand, 'Take the Red Sea conflict as an

example. Most vessels are still sailing around the Cape of Good Hope, but the disruption

stabilised in 2025 to the extent where freight rates are falling back to the pre-Red Sea

crisis levels of December 2023. ‘In Sand’s opinion, the conflict remains the decisive factor

for the container supply chain in 2026.

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