Drewry Maritime Research and CargoSmart Limited have partnered to introduce a wider range of container key performance indicators (KPIs) to help importers and exporters benchmark their carriers’ service levels.
The additional KPIs will be incorporated into a new quarterly report, the details of which will be announced later this month, Drewry said in an April 17 media release.
“The new container KPIs will add value as they will measure performance at the box level, which is more important for shippers than at the ship level,” said Philip Damas, director at Drewry.
The new KPIs will monitor the performance of physical port-to-port shipping operation, commercial processes, and regional inland transport as well as port dwell times.
In 2006, Drewry introduced independent schedule reliability KPIs and spot container freight rate benchmarks. Now with CargoSmart, the research consultancy intends to provide regular assessments of carrier industry performance and quality over time.
“Drewry’s reporting over recent years has indicated that only 60 percent to 70 percent of containership sailings arrived on time, with carriers only recently deciding to provide a guaranteed standard of service with compensations for delays,” Damas said.
He added: “In a service industry, we believe that it is important that buyers know what standards of service and performance they can expect from the carrier industry—whether good or bad—and what it means in terms of value-for-money and the cost of failed performance.”
Many large importers and exporters today already measure various performance metrics for the carriers they use. Drewry said the new industry KPIs will provide a comparative, standard assessment of the performance of the carrier industry as a whole and of carriers unknown to shippers, which is not otherwise available even to large shippers.
Photo: Rennett Stowe
