Hapag-Lloyd is launching an initiative that will push transparency in schedule reliability, noting this as a "main challenge" faced by the global shipping industry.

In a statement, it said that "container shipping is currently going through its worst operational crisis in many years."

Due to high demand, massive COVID-19-related restrictions, and the Suez Canal incident in April 2021, the industry has been forced to deal with major operational challenges, such as congested ports, ship delays, and infrastructural bottlenecks. 

"Hapag-Lloyd’s clear objective is to enhance transparency on the schedule performance of its vessels," it said, noting that by also increasing the ships' on-time performance, the carrier aims to improve supply-chain reliability for its customers.

"Reliable transportation and, along with it, transparency on schedule changes are significant service characteristics that customers value in managing their global supply chains," said Rolf Habben Jansen, CEO of Hapag-Lloyd.

"While offering more visibility on our schedule performance, we are proceeding to improve our on-time delivery at the individual-container level. To get there, however, we first have to manage the on-time arrival of our ships, one of the key influencing factors," he added.

Hapag-Lloyd added that it is making significant changes to many operational processes – including improving cooperation with terminals, ports, and all on-shore partners – to reduce delays.

"The clear target is to have ships arrive on or within one day of the ETA (estimated time of arrival) as indicated in the booking confirmation. Relying on punctuality can bring benefits to customers, such as reducing their warehouse stocks and avoiding excess inventory and interim storage," it said.

Hapag-Lloyd noted that delays will still occur, but with better operational processes and arrival forecasting, its customers can get updates faster, more reliably, and proactively to improve planning.

"Hapag-Lloyd will be fully transparent about its schedule reliability via its Customer Dashboard. Here, its performance, as well as its standing compared to the global industry, are measurable," it said.

"We fully acknowledge that today we are still far away from achieving the reliability levels that our customers expect from us and the entire industry. Currently, we are facing massive congestion at ports and terminals," Hapag Lloyd said. "However, our teams are working hard on managing these challenges and creating more transparency for our customers.

Jansen noted: "Our target is to at least maintain this position among the top third. While we expect the global situation at ports and terminals to reach normal levels in the second half of 2021, we do not intend to rest. In 2022, we will set ourselves specific targets on the schedule reliability that we would like to achieve."