Source: adapted from Drewry Shipping Consultants.
Note: Sample of 1792 vessels, April to June 2010.

Schedule Reliability in Container Shipping, 2010

Schedule reliability is a function of the frequency of deviations between the actual arrival day and the estimated time of arrival (ETA). At the global level container ships arrive at their ports of call on the scheduled day less 50% of the time, with an average deviation of 1.3 days. For the two most important trade relations, Asia/Europe and transpacific, schedule reliability is consistent with the global average with 33% of the ships arriving 1 to 3 days late. The transatlantic has a much higher schedule reliability than the global average because the concerned distances are shorter and pendulum services have less port calls.

Low levels of schedule reliability are problematic for supply chain managers since it ties up more inventory in transit and forces last minute adjustments for terminal pickups and deliveries to distribution centers. Terminal operators are also forced to use more terminal space as a buffer is required to absorb the lack of reliability. Inland transport providers servicing the port terminals must also cope with the related fluctuations and uncertainty. At the aggregate level, it ties up more of their capacity for the same volume. Evidence underlines that in a supply chain if 20% of the containers arrive more than 3 days late, just in time strategies are becoming impractical. It is also worth underlining that about 30% of the containers that are scheduled on ship slots are no shows at terminals, which creates difficulties for shipping companies for the management and the utilization of their assets.

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