Despite troubled waters in some trade lanes, a number of ocean carriers this year provided the kind of service that won them kudos from shippers. Readers this year named 17 liner companies to the Readers' Choice list compared to only 13 last year and 15 the year before that. With so many carriers meeting the quality challenge, it's no wonder that the composite customer satisfaction score for ocean carriers rose to 32.79 this year from 31.77 last year.

Ten of the 17 carriers on this year's list were also honored last year. Once again, ocean carrier MOL led the parade of ships with the highest overall score of 35.74. MOL sailed away with the top honors last year as well. OOCL placed second, with a rating of 35.22. Third in the fleet of tall ships was Columbus Line, with a score of 34.91. Other carriers honored for their service quality were Crowley Liner Services, Seaboard Marine, ANZDL, Atlantic Container Line, Canada Maritime, Cast North America, Hyundai Merchant Marine, Maersk Sealand, Hapag-Lloyd, Italian Line, Mediterranean Shipping Co., Crowley Transport, NYK Line and K Line.

Ocean carriers—many of which had to cope with unbalanced trade lanes—rose to meet the challenging demands of international shippers this past year. The increase in scores in four of the five categories reflects the carriers' concerted effort to provide quality service.

Shippers graded ocean carriers' on-time performance higher this year than they did in 2001; that score jumped to 10.08 from last year's 9.72. Also rising were scores for value (to 8.38 from 7.96), information technology (to 3.35 from 3.01) and customer service (to 6.21 from 5.92).

The liner companies foundered only in the area of equipment and operations. That rating sank to 4.78 from last year's 5.16. Overall, the ocean carriers are steaming full speed ahead in their efforts to provide quality service.