Ocean cargo carrier performance gaps outlined in new report

A major a portal-based ocean cargo technology provider, has announced the publication of a new “reliability report.”

According to spokesmen for INTTRA, the report combines on-time performance with schedule reliability measures.

As reported in LM last month, shipping analyst SeaIntel has partnered with INTRAA to produce a monthly report on key ocean carrier reliability measures.

“For the first time shippers can now analyze actual container delivery time versus vessel arrival time on a country-by-country level,” said Lars Jensen, CEO of SeaIntel Maritime. “This is a game changer in how shippers can evaluate carrier performance and make more informed decisions on how their freight is moved. While knowing when the vessel arrives is an indicator of on-time arrival, what’s most important to a shipper is how timely their cargo is moving.”

Jensen added that with this report, shippers now have timely information, at a level of detail that makes it actionable.

With an average of 900,000-1,000,000 container status messages processed daily supporting transactions that represent over 18 percent of the world’s total container shipments, INTTRA’s data provides visibility into on-time performance measurements. The results of trade lane analysis, which compared vessel arrival reliability based on SeaIntel’s measurements with the actual container delivery reliability based on INTTRA’s data, identified a significant gap between these performance measures.

“The tendency is to look exclusively at the carriers when discussing shipping performance reliability,” said Ken Bloom, CEO of INTTRA. “The information captured through INTTRA enhances performance conversations and can be used to identify more precisely where improvements may need to be made. We hope that by providing the industry with consistent, easily accessible and reliable performance information, we will be able to solve reliability challenges and begin to work on other industry improvements.”

Brian M. Conrad, executive administrator of the Transpacific Stabilization Agreement, told LM that ocean carriers also understand that visibility and reliability are key elements of the supply chain value proposition.

“Carriers have developed their own internal schedule integrity metrics for multiple reasons,” he said. “They broadly recognize the competitive benefits of improved schedule reliability. Beyond that, they need to understand internally how their particular service configurations and business processes affect schedules, space, equipment and other service elements. And they need identify choke points and solutions across the entire operation, alongside perspectives from individual accounts and third parties.”

Conrad also recently praised a ocean carrier performance report issued by The U.S. Department of Agriculture.