Ocean cargo shipping’s reliability index slips a bit

One of the few bright spots in ocean cargo shipping grew a little dimmer this week with evidence that schedule integrity weakened.

According to analysts for the London-based research firm, Drewry Supply Chain Advisors, container ship reliability “took a small step backwards” in October as the average on-time performance across all trades reached 77.9 percent.

“We expected to see a decline in reliability as the container industry enters the slack fourth quarter, but it is encouraging to see that it was only marginal,” says Simon Heaney, senior manager of supply chain research at Drewry.

Heaney notes that it is also welcome news that reliability appears to be of equal standards in both the East-West and North-South routes. 

“We expect the slowing reliability trend to continue through to the early months of next year, but it will remain above historical performances,” he says.

Two carriers shared the top of the carrier reliability rankings in October with K Line and Evergreen of the CKYH Alliance both scoring on-time performances of 85.7 percent. At the bottom of the pile were MSC who recorded an average of 52.4 percent in the month. The trend towards more carriers improving their reliability was once again evident as 16 of the 19 carriers tracked scored at least 75 percent in October.

The on-time result for the East-West trades came in at 77.3 percent in October, while Drewry’s first aggregate result for the seven North-South routes was slightly better at 79.1 percent.

In the East-West category, October saw worse performances in the Transpacific, which declined by 3.5 percentage points against September to 75.1 percent, while in the Asia-Europe trade reliability dropped by 3.0 points to 78.2 percent. On the plus side, reliability on the Transatlantic rose by 12 points in October to a series-high of 84.0 percent.

The most punctual of the “North-South” trades in October was the Asia-South Asia route with an on-time performance of 87.8 percent, while the tardiest was the Asia-Africa route that saw only 68.4 percent of voyages arrive as scheduled.

“Delays in transiting the Panama Canal may have hindered reliability of Transpacific all-water services between Asia and the U.S. East Coast, while in Asia-Europe the suspension of a couple of services and blank voyages will not have aided smooth operations,” adds Heaney.