The Drewry Shipping Consultants’ Schedule Reliability Insight report covering April to June 2011 puts Maersk Line back on top in terms of reliability among the largest 20 lines with an average score of 75.9 %.

Industry reliability across the major trades quarter-on-quarter has shown a quite impressive increase. The transatlantic trade posted a 16 percentage point jump to 68 %; the transpacific trade up five points to 60 %; and the Asia–Europe up 13 points to 62 %. This contributed to an industry average of 56 % schedule reliability for the quarter.

Could this be an indication that the industry is taking note of Maersk Line CEO Eivind Kolding’s call to action in his New Normal manifesto?

Possibly, and Maersk Line’s performance over the quarter is certainly a great example of ‘practice what you preach’. The 75.9 % average score is 20 percentage points higher than the industry average and 18 points higher than the average of the top 20 lines. Competitors APL and CSAV followed with scores of 74.2 % and 70.5 % respectively.

On its own operated services, i.e. excluding vessel share agreements and slot charters, Maersk Line posted 82.3 % reliability.

Reliability a topical issue

“The improved reliability scores achieved by virtually all of the major lines is welcome news,” said Schedule Reliability Insight editor Simon Heaney.

“Reliability is certainly a topical issue following Maersk Line chief executive’s Eivind Kolding’s call for a revolution within the industry towards a more customer-focused approach with quality service and ease of transaction at the fore.”