ZIM sailing schedules
Over the last 90 days, ZIM departed on schedule about 55.1% of the time across 1,283 observed sailings, with roughly 44.9% of departures behind schedule and 90th-percentile schedule drift of about 144 hours (6 days). For your exact route, compare ZIM against every other line on the lane by transit time and observed arrival reliability before you book.
ZIMU · schedule data as of Jul 28, 2026.
What you get for ZIM
- Forward sailings: vessel, voyage, service loop, departure and arrival dates, and cut-offs where ZIM publishes them.
- Coverage: asset-light niche trades: transpacific, Atlantic, and Mediterranean express services.
- Reliability: once a lane has enough tracked port calls, we score ZIM on actual-vs-scheduled arrival, not on the schedule it published. Thin lanes are shown as low-sample, never guessed.
- Same shape as every line: ZIM reads the same as MSC, Maersk, or any other carrier, so you can rank them side by side.
How ZIM reliability is scored
We don't take a carrier's word for its transit time. When SchedulesMCP has enough tracked arrivals on a ZIM lane, it compares each actual arrival against what was scheduled and reports the observed on-time rate and the median and p90 transit. Lanes without enough observations are labelled low-sample rather than given a made-up score, so a number, when you see one, is real.
Compare ZIM against the alliance
ZIM rarely runs a lane alone. Put your origin and destination into the live tool to rank ZIM against every other line on that exact pair by transit time and observed reliability before you book.
Schedule footprint
What we currently track for ZIM across the forward schedule window: the sailings, the distinct port-pairs, and the named service loops behind them.
Top lanes ZIM sails
The busiest port-pairs on ZIM's network by tracked sailings. Open a lane for the full carrier line-up and upcoming departures.
| Lane | Sailings | Median transit |
|---|---|---|
| Qingdao → Houston | 104 | 35 days |
| Qingdao → Norfolk | 104 | 44 days |
| Qingdao → Savannah | 96 | 41 days |
| Hong Kong → Vancouver | 89 | 30 days |
| Qingdao → Los Angeles | 81 | 22 days |
| Busan → Los Angeles | 74 | 28 days |
| Kaohsiung → Houston | 66 | 38 days |
| Hong Kong → Los Angeles | 63 | 20 days |
| Hong Kong → Norfolk | 62 | 51 days |
| Hong Kong → Savannah | 62 | 39 days |
Schedule reliability
How much ZIM's published departures moved over the last 90 days, measured from the revisions to their own ETDs, not from a survey. Higher drift means the board shifts more often after it's posted.
How reliable is ZIM for on-time arrival?
Across 6 lanes and 52 tracked sailings, ZIM ships arrive on schedule about 60% of the time, measured from actual versus forecast arrivals, not the published timetable. It is most reliable on Shenzhen → Los Angeles (100%), and least reliable on Shanghai → Laem Chabang (50%).
Most reliable lanes
| Lane | On-time arrivals | Tracked sailings |
|---|---|---|
| Shenzhen → Los Angeles | 100% | 9 |
| Shanghai → Los Angeles | 100% | 8 |
| Ningbo → Los Angeles | 89% | 9 |
Least reliable lanes
| Lane | On-time arrivals | Tracked sailings |
|---|---|---|
| Shanghai → Laem Chabang | 50% | 8 |
ZIM schedules & reliability: FAQ
How reliable is ZIM for on-time arrival?
Across 6 lanes and 52 tracked sailings, ZIM ships arrive on schedule about 60% of the time (actual vs forecast arrivals), best on Shenzhen → Los Angeles at 100%.
How reliable is ZIM?
Over the last 90 days, ZIM departed on schedule about 55.1% of the time across 1,283 observed sailings, with roughly 44.9% of departures behind schedule and 90th-percentile schedule drift of about 144 hours (6 days).
How reliable is ZIM on my lane?
ZIM's on-time reliability varies by lane, so SchedulesMCP scores it per route from actual versus scheduled arrivals rather than quoting one figure. Enter your origin and destination in the Compare tool to see ZIM's observed on-time percentage and transit time on that exact lane; lanes with too few tracked arrivals are marked early-data instead of guessed.
How do I compare ZIM against other carriers?
Open the Compare tool, enter an origin and destination, and ZIM is ranked side by side with every other carrier on that lane by observed on-time reliability, transit time, next departure and sailing frequency, so you can see before you book whether ZIM or a rival is the better call.
Where do ZIM sailing schedules come from?
ZIM sailings come from ZIM's published schedule API, normalised into the same schedule shape as every other line.
What trades does ZIM cover?
ZIM (ZIMU) covers asset-light niche trades: transpacific, Atlantic, and Mediterranean express services. SchedulesMCP normalises those forward sailings into the same shape as every other line so they rank directly against each other.