Maersk Lead Reliability Rankings

 

Maersk and Hamburg Sud again topped the liner shipping reliability rankings in a year during which 19 of the 20 largest container shipping lines saw their schedule reliability decline, compared with 2013.

 

The only carrier to buck the trend was CSAV, with 77.8% of its vessels arriving “on time”, compared with 77% in 2013, the result of its limited exposure to the main east-west trades where liner operators encountered most of their scheduling problems. Maersk and Hamburg Sud had a reliability score of 83.7% and 82.2% respectively.

 

The schedule reliability in the container sector dropped 7.6% in 2014 to 72.2% due to congestion in a number of major ports. The carriers struggled to maintain schedule integrity in the face of adverse winter weather conditions in northern Europe and the US east coast in the early part of the year, and the port congestion that plagued Europe’s hub ports in the summer, and which continues to affect many of the major Asia hubs. 

 

In Rotterdam some ships were diverted to Antwerp due to the delays, as the deployment of ultra-large containerships in the 18,000 teu range hit terminal operators and landside infrastructure.