But it isn't easy when so many shippers these days are considering ocean shipping to be merely a commodity, and have started choosing service providers largely on the basis of price.

Even though it's getting tougher for ocean carriers to differentiate themselves, shippers still know great ocean service when they receive it—and they're not afraid to report it in our Quest for Quality survey. As a matter of fact, shippers have placed the victory wreath on 16 ocean carriers this year, marking the best of the best in one of the tightest races of the year.

It's interesting to note that while the overall weighted average for ocean carriers dipped by more than a point from 2006, the weighted averages in the Customer Service and Equipment & Operations criteria categories actually went up a bit this year—marking a critical improvement in these two key differentiating categories.

The carriers that crossed the wire with scores above the weighted average of 31.43 include Horizon Lines, Matson Navigation, “K” Line America, Hyundai Merchant Marine, Hatsu Marine, MOL, NYK Line, Hanjin Shipping, OOCL, APL, Hamburg Sud, Hapag-Lloyd, Evergreen Line, Yang Ming Line, Italia Line, and Crowley Liner Services.

Hats off to Horizon Lines, which earned the top spot this year in a highly competitive race posting an overall weighted average of 36.07. Matson Navigation (34.24), “K” Line America (34.22), and Hyundai Merchant Marine (34.11) were right on each other's heels in the run for second.

Horizon Lines also took top honors in On-time Performance (11.13), Information Technology (4.28), Customer Service (7.53), and Equipment & Operations (5.47)—an impressive showing indeed. Hatsu Marine took the prize for the highest Value score this year with a 7.89. And while we were calling for improved scores this year in Information Technology, overall, the weight average for the criteria dropped more than a half point—signaling, perhaps, that carriers may not have delivered all the was promised with tracking and tracing.