On-time transpacific ship reliability continues downward trend in February

The poor performance underscored the importance of the tentative labor agreement with the ILWU, according to the consulting firm SeaIntel.    Schedule reliability in the eastbound transpacific trade lane by container carriers, based on when a ship arrives at berth, decreased for the seventh consecutive month to 39.8 percent, according to the consulting firm SeaIntel.
   Container delivery, a metric based on the “gate out” time when a container leaves a terminal, decreased to 20 percent.
   Both scores represented new record-lows for performance in the trade lane and were at a level “lower than even some of the trade lanes to Africa that notoriously are known for having a very low performance due to low productivity in the ports and very poor hinterland infrastructure,” said SeaIntel.
   Morten Berg Thomsen, shipping analyst at SeaIntel, said the poor performance underlined the importance of the tentative agreement reached in February by port employers, represented Pacific Maritime Association, and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union.
   On Friday, an ILWU caucus recommended members of the union rank and file vote in favor of the agreement.
   In the Asia-North Europe trade lane on-time performance increased to 73.2 percent, SeaIntel said, marking an improvement of 23.2 percentage points, while the Asia-Mediterranean trade’s schedule reliability dropped to 63.4 percent.
   SeaIntel said in February Hamburg Süd was the most reliable carrier with an on-time performance of 86.2 percent. The German carrier was followed by CSAV and Maersk Line with recorded on-time performances of 84.4 percent and 83.4 percent, respectively.
   SeaIntel prepares its monthly Global Liner Performance report using data from INTTRA.
   Congestion at West Coast ports is likely to take several months to totally disappear, said Berg Thomsen. Outside the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, where congestion was most severe, the Marine Exchange of Southern California said there were 13 ships waiting for berths on Sunday, including seven containerships, down from a high of 28 on March 14.