Global shipping schedule reliability declines

Congestion on the US West Coast and implementation of alliance networks meant that 2015 kicked-off with an all-time record low schedule reliability, according to SeaIntel’s latest Global Liner Performance report. On-time performance decreased to 67.8% in January (based on 10 762 vessel arrivals), from 71.2% in December. Data from INTTRA shows that container delivery declined to 49.1%, based on nearly 3 million container arrivals.



The decline in schedule reliability means that 2015 starts out slightly lower than 2014 did, but significantly lower than both 2012 and 2013. “There is no doubt that shippers during 2014 experienced considerably lower on-time performance than in 2012 and 2013, and 2015 does not show any improvements yet,” said Morten Berg Thomsen, shipping analyst at SeaIntel.



For the 6th consecutive month Maersk Line, Hamburg Süd and CSAV were the most reliable carriers, with an on-time performance in January of 80.2%, 80% and 78.5%, respectively. The worst performing carrier was Yang Ming with a performance of 63%. NYK, HMM, Hapag-Lloyd and ZIM were the only four carriers who managed to improve their scores in January, advancing the four carriers up the ranking.



“Global schedule reliability is a good indicator of the carriers’ overall on-time performance, but it can only be used as guidance. If a shipper wants to have the best possible service offering in the market he operates in, then he needs to have access to accurate information on a trade lane level, irrespective of whether the shipment is from Asia to North Europe or East Coast South America to Asia, as carrier performance will vary widely between individual trade lanes”, said Berg Thomsen.