Liner schedule reliability improved in Q3

Liner schedule reliability improved in Q3    The on-time performance of the world's 20 largest container lines improved across the board from July to September, according to the latest Drewry Schedule Reliability Insight, published by London-based Drewry Shipping Consultants.
   Drewry's schedule reliability measure tracked 2,114 sailings in the period, comparing expected arrival versus actual arrival at a list of benchmark global ports.
   Only one of the top 20 carriers — Chilean line CSAV — performed worse between July and September than in the previous three months. CSAV, which vastly expanded its service network this year, also performed the worst out of the top 20 lines, with 35.6 percent of its vessels calling on-time, compared to 40.4 percent in the previous quarter.
   The best performing line, according to Drewry's metrics, continues to be Maersk Line, which saw 78.9 percent reliability, up from 76.5 percent in the previous quarter. Following Maersk are Hyundai Merchant Marine (78.1 percent); APL (73.8 percent); United Arab Shipping Co. (67.9 percent); and MOL (66.9 percent).
   The lines that improved the most from the previous quarter were PIL (which went from 14.3 percent in the second quarter to 63 percent in the latest quarter), China Shipping (from 28.4 percent to 49.1 percent), and Evergreen (from 43.6 percent to 59.1 percent). Also making significant improvements were MOL, Yang Ming, Zim and APL.
   The top 20 lines also improved their average deviation from published schedules. In the second quarter, only four lines had an average deviation of less than one day, while in the latest quarter, 12 lines did. And no line had a worse average deviation than 1.9 days, compared to a low of 3.5 days in the previous quarter.
   Drewry said it began tracking more intra-Asia services and carriers in the latest quarter, though via a relatively small sample compared to information collected on the Asia/Europe and transpacific trades. Reliability on the Asia/Europe trade improved from 54 percent in the second quarter to 66 percent, while it improved from 54 percent to 64 percent on the transpacific. Intra-Asia performance was 61 percent.