On-time performance for box ships improved sharply in April, and the trans-Pacific trade made the biggest jump in reliability with the resolution of the U.S. West Coast (USWC) port congestion, according to Drewry.
Service reliability in April rose with the aggregate on-time performance for the three key East-West trades rising to 67.6%, up by 4.1 percentage points on March, according to Carrier Performance Insight, the online schedule reliability tool provided by Drewry Supply Chain Advisors.
The previous best since Drewry’s new data series started in May 2014 was achieved in October last year (64.3%), after which the industry struggled to cope with heavy port congestion on the U.S. West Coast and the implementation of new alliance partnerships and services.
The trans-Pacific trade saw the biggest improvement in April with on-time reliability rising by 15.1 points to 54%, which Drewry said indicates the return to “normal” operations on the USWC. However, trans-Pacific reliability remains about 20 points down on the series peaks of June and July 2014.
Reliability on the Asia-Europe trade improved for the third consecutive month in April, while the trans-Atlantic bucked a six-month declining trend with a higher performance.
The most reliable carrier in April was Maersk Line with an average on-time performance of 85%, followed by Orient Overseas Container Line (77%), and by Mitsui O.S.K. Lines and Nippon Yusen Kaisha (both 74%). At the bottom of the rankings were Wan Hai (51%) and Pacific International Lines (40%).
“Drewry expected the upturn in reliability following the end of the exceptional circumstances,” said Simon Heaney, senior manager of supply chain research at Drewry. “We expect further improvements in the next few months, but as on-time performances are approaching the historical ceilings, they might only be marginal.”
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