Ocean carriers’ container service reliability continues to improve, and this could be partly linked to the launch of new alliances early this year, according to Carrier Performance Insight, the online schedule reliability tool provided by Drewry Supply Chain Advisors.
Service reliability by box carriers further improved in June, with a combined aggregate on-time performance for the three key East-West trades rising by 5.7 percentage points to extend the data-series record to 77.3%, according to Drewry.
The latest on-time month-on-month gain marks the fifth month out of six that has occurred in 2015. Compared to June 2014 the on-time performance was higher by nearly 15 points, which Drewry said reflects the operational improvements brought about by the new, enlarged carrier alliances at the start of the year.
At the same time, also boosting reliability are the easing of the U.S. West Coast port congestion from March and carriers’ growing recognition of the importance of reliability in marketing and customer retention.
Maersk Line has retained its long-held position as the most reliable carrier with an on-time performance of 84.8% in June, broadly the same as it was in May. This time the Danish mega-carrier faced stiffer competition that usual as Evergreen was only 0.1 point behind in second place. Hanjin took third spot with 84.5%.
Drewry notes how Maersk seems to be influencing its 2M partner MSC in improving its own on-time performance. The Danish carrier’s on-time average between February and June 2015 was 82%, whereas it stood at 78% in the previous nine months before 2M started. MSC is yet to reach the same heights as Maersk, but its post-2M reliability average has risen by 10 percentage points over the same comparison period to 64%.
Thus, Maersk’s operational principles look to be rubbing off on MSC to the benefit of shippers, said Drewry.
In fact, the improvements to reliability have not been limited to the 2M lines as the overall on-time performance has been trending upwards for some months, it added. The gap between the best and worst performing lines narrowed to around 26 points in June, when it had been closer to 40 points in May. The least reliable carriers in June were Wan Hai (60.8%) and Zim (59%).
“The converging on-time scores is perhaps an indication that even carriers that have overlooked the importance of reliability in terms of marketing and customer retention are recognizing their previous mistake,” said Simon Heaney, senior manager of supply chain research at Drewry.
Drewry expects carriers to maintain the current upwards trend for reliability as they look to impress shippers in order to keep hold of market share in a potentially weaker peak season.
Photo: Big Swede Guy
