Despite recent improvements, liner schedule reliability is still languishing at lower levels than a year ago, causing disruption for shippers and terminals, according to SeaIntel research.
The research house said global schedule reliability increased for a second straight month in April, up 1.5 points to 73.6 per cent, but it was still 8.5 percentage points down compared to last year.
A similar trend is apparent in global container delivery figures, as compiled by INTTRA. Delivery levels increased from 55 per cent in March to 56 per cent in April but were still 9.6 percentage points lower than in April 2013.
"Even reliability is showing a long-needed improvement, shippers should be aware of performance in their trade lanes, as we see large variations in performance, as well as variable performance across carriers lanes," said SeaIntel's Alan Murphy.
Schedule reliability across the major trade lanes made double-digit gains in April compared to March, but SeaIntel said only Asia-Med was performing better than in 2013.
"Overall, 17 trade lanes are down by two-digit percentage points compared to last year," said SeaIntel.
SeaIntel said it was unlikely that lines would reach 2013 performance levels before the end of the year, as the majority of players planned service reshuffles on the major east-west trade lanes in the coming months.
"So far we have seen a significant number of service changes this year, and these changes cannot avoid impacting the carriers' schedule reliability, as vessels need to be phased in and out of services," said the SeaIntel report.
WORLD SHIPPING
10 June 2014 - 23:51
Carriers' April schedule reliability slides, disrupting supply chains
Despite recent improvements, liner schedule reliability is still languishing at lower levels than a year ago, causing disruption for shippers and terminals, according to SeaIntel research.
WORLD SHIPPING
10 June 2014 - 23:51
Carriers' April schedule reliability slides, disrupting supply chains
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