A global decline in performance of shipping lines has been recorded in July for the first time since February, according to SeaIntel’s latest Global Liner Performance report.
The drop amounts to almost four percentage points from 75.6% in June to 71.6%, the report shows.
Shipping giants Maersk Line, Hamburg Süd and Hanjin are still the most reliable liners, whereas Hyundai Merchant Marine, MOL, NYK were found at the other end of the list of the world’s top 20 shipping lines.
Three major trade lines were hit the hardest, based on SeaIntel’s report, those being the transpacific eastbound, Asia-Mediterranean and Asia-north Europe routes.
Congestion issues in Rotterdam and Hamburg are believed to be the biggest contributors to liner reliability downturn between Asia and Europe, which fell for 20 percentage points.
The drop was further fueled by longshore contract talks in the US along with port workers strike in Chile, as explained by SeaIntel COO Alan Murphy.
According to SeaIntel’s midyear review during the second quarter, the overall industry reliability was improving. However, there was a widening gap between industry players.
Maersk Line scored an above-industry rating of 86.1%, which was facilitated by fair weather and fewer port closures for the quarter.
As the leading liner for Q2, Maersk Line drove the industry gap to 11%, overtaking Hamburg Süd and CSAV with 84.1% and 79.6%, respectively, the review shows.