Maersk Line has extended its lead on schedule reliability performance during the second quarter 2010 posting 76.5% reliability according to Drewry, the UK-based independent analysts.
Serious attitude towards reliability “Drewry is encouraged to see that the world’s biggest carrier is taking the issue of service reliability so seriously and hopes that it will lead other lines to adopt a similar attitude,” the report read.
From the first quarter, schedule reliability across the container shipping industry has fallen yet again – slipping to just 45% between April and June. While Maersk Line recorded a slight improvement, it was mixed results for competitors with only half of the top 20 carriers ranked by vessel capacity achieving 50% reliability or above.
CSAV, placed second in the first quarter, performed particularly poorly with a 21% drop in reliability.
No relationship between rates and reliability The Drewry report also noted how shippers are paying a heavy cost for the temporary supply-side limitations. It also warned carriers against further rate hikes on the promise of better reliability stating that rates have “no bearing” on service reliability.
“Carriers’ promising better reliability as the pretext for the rate hike is misleading in the extreme,” said the report.
Real-time intervention Asger Lauritsen, Head of Operations Execution, says Maersk Line has been “consistently widening the gap” to competitors. “We are improving our performance while the average for the industry is worsening,” he states.
“Teamwork and our ability to see through hotspots, plus the real-time monitoring of vessels, ports and cargo enable us to intervene the moment we see something going wrong,” continues Lauritsen.
He also points out that while Vessel Share Agreements and slot charters negatively cost Maersk Line ten percentage points, on own-operated strings Maersk Line is 37 percent above the industry average. “We are clearly adding more value to the customers’ supply chains than our competition,” he adds.
The strategic ambition is to strive towards 95% on-time delivery and that, according to Lauritsen, will “entail a lot of hard work from the whole business organisation; not just the vessels.”
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Maersk Line posts 76.5% schedule reliability for Q2 2010
Industry average just 45% in the same period
VSA and slot charters cost Maersk Line 10%
Drewry reports highlights no link between increasing rates and better reliability
