Maersk Line still most reliable container carrier

Braving adverse conditions and port congestions, Maersk Line heads the list of the top 20 largest carriers according to the latest Drewry Shipping Consultants Schedule Reliability Insight Q1-2011 covering the last three months of 2010.

Maersk Line, which has been the forerunner for 10 out of the previous 11 quarters, posted 70.2 % — better than the industry average of 55 % during the fourth quarter.

“We are very happy with the report. Drewry confirms we are doing much better than the industry average. Maersk Line is by far the most reliable container carrier,” says Asger S. B. Lauritsen, Head of Operations Execution.

While Maersk Line improved by 1.2 percentage points year-on-year from 69 %, the overall decline in overall carriers’ on-time arrival is attributable to the early harsh winter.

“Weather conditions and port congestions during the last three months of 2010 affected the overall schedule reliability results; this is a constant for all carriers for Q4 every year,” the report read.

Maersk Line widened the gap to the second placed carrier by 2.5 percentage points, a position held this quarter by American Presidential Lines (APL) with 67.7 %. Hyundai settled for third with 67.6 %.

In addition, Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) ranked least reliable of the top 20 carriers in the list after registering just 41 % reliability.  Lauritsen shares Maersk Line’s independent score without vessel sharing agreements (VSAs) was 87.1 % during the fourth quarter. Such cooperation with the other carriers cost Maersk Line 16.8 percentage points as they were not able to lessen the impact of the bad weather conditions.

“It was really mind-boggling. It costs us a lot of reliability when it comes to partners who don’t share the same mindset and strategy.

“Our customers get disappointed – they think they have booked a Maersk product but get secondary delivery, so in the long term, we either have to change the way they operate, do things on our own or find new partners,” he says, adding Maersk Line improved quite significantly despite the tough situations.

With the new vision to be the undisputed leader of liner shipping, Maersk Line has committed itself to providing 95 % on-time delivery to our customers. Lauritsen shares the organisation is now in the process of making a detailed ramp up plan on how it can be achieved, including seasonal schedules and differentiated products amongst other things.

Zim’s schedule reliability rank continues to improve

Zim said it ranks 7th among top-20 carriers in Drewry’s Schedule Reliability Survey.

Drewry’s first quarter of 2011 “Schedule Reliability Insight” Survey places Zim in the 7th place among the top-20 carriers in terms of Schedule Reliability, marking another rank improvement for Zim. Last quarter, Zim was ranked 10th, after advancing from the 15th place in Q2 to the 12th place in Q3 of 2010.

Schedule Reliability is a high priority target for Zim, a part of the ongoing efforts to improve customer service.