Report: Mega vessel arrival delays in Europe shorter than for all vessels on average

Research from CargoSmart found the average vessel arrival delay in June for ships of 10,000 TEUs or larger was shorter than for all vessels arriving at five key European ports.    New research from the shipment management software provider CargoSmart has found that vessel arrival delays for so-called mega-vessels at five major European ports were shorter than for vessels in general.
   The research, conducted in June, measured average arrival delays at Antwerp, Bremerhaven, Felixstowe, Hamburg, and Rotterdam for ships of 10,000 TEUs or larger against all vessel calls. The data showed that the average delay for all five ports was shorter for mega-vessels than for all vessels (though delays for mega-vessels at Felixstowe were virtually the same as for all calls).
   “Ever since carriers introduced mega vessels on the Asia-Europe trade, mega-vessels have been increasingly visiting major European ports,” CargoSmart said in its monthly Innovating newsletter. “We studied Europe’s port performance, regardless of trade lanes, to see whether mega vessels have experienced a difference in performance than vessels overall at the ports.”
   In all, 15.5 percent of 1,603 vessel arrivals from 23 carriers tracked by CargoSmart were delayed by more than a day, and 28.8 percent were more than 12 hours delays. Of the 1,603 arrivals, 151 were made by mega-vessels.
   “Each of the five European ports had an average delay of fewer than 24 hours for all sizes of container vessels,” the report said. “The statistics reveal that the mega vessels’ average delays were shorter than the overall average vessel delays at all five ports.”