by Lloyd's List
5 November 2024 (Lloyd's List) - CONTAINERSHIPS were delayed by 5.67 days on average in September 2024, the highest September figure recorded since the pandemic highs of 2021-2022, according to the latest assessment by Sea Intelligence.
Delays increased by 0.21 days on August’s levels, leaving September 2024 as the third-highest figure for the month, only behind 2021 and 2022.
Reliability for the industry dipped again, down 1.2% to reach 51.4%. Though described as “unsatisfactory” by Sea Intelligence, reliability has been stable in 2024, moving between 52%-54% in the first nine months of the year, offering some consistency to shippers at the least.
Unlike the pandemic, where poor reliability was caused by port congestion, Sea Intelligence said the current tardiness of containerships was simply a result of longer transit times because of Red Sea rerouting.
In terms of specific trade lanes, only the transpacific trade lanes saw any improvement year on year in 3Q24, with Asia-North America west coast recording a 15.5% increase and Asia-North America east coast improving by 5%.
On the contrary, Asia-Europe trade lanes continued to suffer. Asia-North Europe was down 19.1% on last year in 3Q24 and Asia-Mediterranean down 10.4%.
Maersk was the best-performing of the top carriers in terms of reliability in the third quarter of 2024, with 54.8%, followed by CMA CGM (51.6%) and the Mediterranean Shipping Co (50.7%).
While Maersk’s position at the top of the league will be welcomed in Copenhagen, it is still a long way short of the slated 90% reliability the carrier has said it can achieve alongside its new alliance partner Hapag-Lloyd.
None of the top 13 carriers have been able to achieve any improvement in reliability so far this year, with MSC (-19.9%) and Wan Hai Lines (-22.5%) suffering in particular.
Elsewhere, data from the US Bureau of Economic Analysis has shown no drastic uptick in consumer spending, which Sea Intelligence says proves an early peak for the box sector was more down to pre-positioning of cargo rather than an “underlying surge in consumer spending”.
