Low rates have no bearing on service, says Drewry
Shippers are paying a heavy cost for the temporary supply-side limitations
Edition of August 10, 2010
A report by Drewry Shipping Consultants has noted how shippers are paying a heavy cost for the temporary supply-side limitations.
The UK-based independent analysts 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.
Drewry reports that Maersk Line extended its lead on schedule reliability performance during the second quarter of this year, posting 76.5 percent 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 fell yet again – slipping to just 45 percent 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 percent reliability or above.
CSAV, placed second in the first quarter, performed particularly poorly with a 21 percent drop in reliability.
Asger Lauritsen, head of operations execution, said Maersk Line had been “consistently widening the gap” on competitors. “We are improving our performance while the average for the industry is worsening,” he said.
“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,” said Lauritsen.
He also points out that while Vessel Share Agreements and slot charters negatively cost Maersk Line 10 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 of the carrier is to achieve 95 percent on-time delivery and that, according to Lauritsen, will “entail a lot of hard work from the whole business organisation; not just the vessels”.
The UK-based independent analysts 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.
Drewry reports that Maersk Line extended its lead on schedule reliability performance during the second quarter of this year, posting 76.5 percent 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 fell yet again – slipping to just 45 percent 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 percent reliability or above.
CSAV, placed second in the first quarter, performed particularly poorly with a 21 percent drop in reliability.
Asger Lauritsen, head of operations execution, said Maersk Line had been “consistently widening the gap” on competitors. “We are improving our performance while the average for the industry is worsening,” he said.
“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,” said Lauritsen.
He also points out that while Vessel Share Agreements and slot charters negatively cost Maersk Line 10 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 of the carrier is to achieve 95 percent on-time delivery and that, according to Lauritsen, will “entail a lot of hard work from the whole business organisation; not just the vessels”.
Source: Cargo News Asia / Drewry
