Vessel, container on-time rates improve in July

   Liner schedule reliability and on-time container delivery rates both improved in July, according to the latest research from SeaIntel Maritime Analysis and INTTRA.
   Global vessel reliability increased from 81 percent in June to 83 percent in July, while timely delivery of containers improved from 64 percent in June to 68 percent, the companies said.
   “A significant number of different trade lanes benefitted from the improved performance,” SeaIntel said. “Containers were delivered more timely in July than in June in 19 out of 28 trade lanes, and vessels arrived in a more timely fashion in 16 out of 28 trade lanes. Seen from the perspective of timely delivery of the actual containers, 10 out of 28 trade lanes saw a record high on-time delivery in July 2012, clearly a development which is beneficial to the shippers.”
   Among the top 20 carriers, Maersk Line retained its position as the No. 1 performer in July in terms of global schedule reliability, with Yang Ming moving into the No. 2 position, a fraction of a percentage ahead of Hamburg Süd.
   SeaIntel also noted that the performance gap between the top and bottom carriers has been narrowing rapidly during 2012. In 2011, the average gap between top and bottom performers was a 23 percent, in terms of vessel reliability. In July, the gap had shrunk to 13 percent, mostly due to improved performance at the bottom end.
   The data underlying the report comes from SeaIntel Maritime Analysis’ database of 110,000 vessel arrivals and 360,000 carrier products for schedule reliability. The data for on-time delivery of containers comes from SeaIntel’s collaboration with INTTRA, which provides data on the actual movement of about 30 percent of all individual containers moved globally. – Eric Johnson