MOL’s intermodal on-time percentage lags

   The liner carrier MOL said Friday it met internal intermodal transit on-time performance targets for five of 18 origin-destination pairs in the third quarter of 2012.
   The carriers has tracked the on-time performance of intermodal moves from three ports in Asia (Shanghai, Yantian, and Cai Mep) to six mostly inland U.S. points (Atlanta, Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Memphis, and New York).
   The carrier has a 90 percent on-time target for each pair, but met or exceeded the target only from Shanghai to Atlanta, and from Yantian and Cai Mep to both Memphis and New York. The Shanghai-Dallas route narrowly missed the target, at 89 percent.
   On-time performance was generally worst to Chicago and Columbus, with the line failing to hit its target from any of the three destination ports.
   “Performance was impacted by late arriving vessels: PCX (10 vessels at least one hour late, one vessel 49 hours late, and one vessel 30 hours late) and PSX (two vessels 16 hours late),” the carrier said. “Some of the vessels were late due to typhoons: PSX (week 32 and week 36) and PCX (week 35 and week 38). The Fourth of July, Bloody Thursday and Labor Day holidays also impacted performance. Further, significant congestion in the Los Angeles terminal contributed to delays. MOL will continue to work with our rail partners and address specifics of operation with the terminals to improve our performance.”
   Overall, on-time intermodal performance for the 18 pairs was 81 percent, MOL said.
   Meanwhile, also on Friday, MOL released its latest North American key performance metrics through September.
   The line met internal key performance indicator metrics on all but two areas in September – in-terminal truck turn times in its Los Angeles terminal, and Asia-to-U.S. documentation accuracy.
   Among 13 individual areas tracked, performance improved or held steady from August to September in all but three – in-terminal truck turn times in its Jacksonville and Oakland terminals, and export bill of lading documentation completion rate. All three areas where performance worsened in September still, however, met MOL’s performance targets.
   American Shipper chronicled MOL’s efforts to improve documentation accuracy in its August issue.
   MOL began publishing its KPI performance on a monthly basis in February. The results are posted in greater detail at www.CountOnMOL.com. – Eric Johnson