On-time performance by container lines appears to be on the decline, according to a recent survey by SeaIntel Maritime Analysis.
Its Liner Performance Data for August shows a sharp decline in container carrier on-time performance.
July saw global schedule reliability peak at 83% following an extended period of monthly improvements. However, August saw these improvements eliminated as schedule reliability declined to just 77% across more than 10 000 vessel arrivals during August, a spokesman said. This decline was also seen for the delivery of the individual containers, where global on-time performance declined from 68% in July to 64% in August based on data from INTTRA.
“The declines were not confined to individual carriers, as all top-20 carriers saw a decline in global reliability in August, although some saw larger declines than others. The top 3 performers in August were Maersk Line, Hamburg Süd and APL. They achieved this ranking by being amongst the carriers experiencing only relatively minor declines in schedule reliability in August.
“Although the global reliability declined, we saw significant differences across individual tradelanes. The back haul trade from Europe to Asia as well as the Transpacific trade saw significant performance reductions. However some trades, such as the head haul trade from Asia to the Mediterranean, actually saw improved performance in August.”
The sharp reduction is seen to be a consequence of poor weather conditions, port issues as well as the phasing-in of super slow-steaming on main back-haul trades.
The data underlying the analysis stems from the SeaIntel Maritime Analysis database encompassing more than 120 000 vessel arrivals as well as INTTRA's database encompassing more than 800 000 container status messages daily.