Ships’ on-time performance reached a record high of 75.7 percent in the second quarter of 2012, up 3.4 percent from the first quarter of 2012, according to a new industry report by Drewry Maritime Research.
Maersk Line and Hanjin Shipping maintained their positions for the period as the two most reliable major carriers and improved on their performances of the first quarter, according to the industry consultant’s latest quarterly report Carrier Performance Insight.
Seventeen of the 27 major container lines obtained a reliability score above the carrier industry’s 75.7 percent on-time average in the second quarter, and only seven of the sample failed to improve on their score from the previous quarter.
“Maersk had its best-ever all-trades on-time score of 91.4% in the second quarter, up from 89.8% in the previous quarter,” London-based Drewry said in a press release.
Vessel schedule reliability improved particularly in May and June, as schedules settled down following network changes in April caused by the formation of the new alliance G6 and the CMA CGM-Mediterranean Shipping Co. partnership.
“The latest data for the second quarter shows that freight rates have increased (from a low level), but so has ship on-time performance. We believe this is probably a fair deal for many shippers—a more expensive but more predictable service,” said Simon Heaney, research manager at Drewry.
By ship operator, Hanjin, Maersk, Hamburg Süd, and CSAV were ranked the most reliable operators in the second quarter.
But Drewry said the latest data on port dwell times is worrying: the ports of Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Nhava Sheva are experiencing very long or increasing import dwell times. This may mean port congestion inefficiency, particularly in Nhava Sheva, or delays in merchants taking delivery of their containers, perhaps because they do not need the products for some time.
Photo: Svadilfari
