Liner schedule reliability fell to its worst level in 12 months in February when the average on-time performance slipped by seven percentage points to 62.7 percent, according to Carrier Performance Insight, the online schedule reliability tool provided by Drewry Supply Chain Advisors.

The new Carrier Performance Insight provides the ability to benchmark the reliability performance of

container carriers on a port-to-port, trade lane, service and industry-wide basis. This information is

available via a website powered by data from global shipment management software solutions provider CargoSmart.

The on-time average has now fallen in each of the previous five months and is now at its lowest

point since the U.S. west coast labor dispute affected performance in February 2015 when the average was 55.2 percent.

On top of the worsening on-time average, the deviation from the expected time of arrival stretched

out to 1.2 days in February, from 0.9 days in January.

Only two of the 10 trades covered by Carrier Performance Insight were able to improve their on-time average in February versus January. The transatlantic trade got over weather issues from the start of the year to register a 19.6-point rise to 60.8 percent, putting it back close to its 2015 average, while the Europe-South America trade gained four points to 89.1 percent.

Japanese carrier MOL finished on top yet again with an average on-time performance of 73.6 percent,

well down on its leading score of 82.7 percent in January. Wan Hai took second place with 71.4 percent,

down from 79.5 percent, while third-place Maersk Line had an on-time average of 70.1 percent, down from 77.0 percent.

Only two carriers, MSC and ZIM, made marginal improvements on their January performance. The widespread malaise saw the spread from the most to least reliable carriers narrow to 18 points.

“A raft of missed sailings to coincide with Chinese New Year and the subsequent operational

adjustments have contributed to the weaker performance,” said Simon Heaney, senior manager of supply chain research at Drewry. “It seems that reliability is indeed now on a prolonged downwards trend although the severity witnessed in February was probably exaggerated by the effects of Chinese New Year. We expect March to show a small month-on-month improvement but for on-time averages over the coming months to remain below the series-high performances of the second-half of 2015.”