Global shipping schedule reliability improved by 0.9 percentage points month-on-month (M/M) in October to 51.5%, according to a Sea-Intelligence analysis.
The Danish shipping consultancy company said that so far, in 2024, schedule reliability has largely stayed within the 50%- 55% range.
"That said, despite being disappointingly low, the low levels of volatility in schedule reliability in 2024 do give shippers a relatively good idea of what to expect M/M," commented Alan Murphy, CEO of Sea-Intelligence.
Meanwhile, the report said the average delay for late vessel arrivals decreased by -0.14 days M/M to 5.72 days.
Sea-Intelligence noted that this is the second-highest figure for the month, only surpassed by the pandemic high of 2021.
For the period, Maersk was the most reliable top-13 carrier, with schedule reliability of 57.9%, followed by MSC with 52.0%.
The report noted that 10 of the remaining 11 carriers were within the 40%-50% range, while PIL was the least reliable carrier at 37.2%.
Eight of the top 13 carriers recorded an M/M improvement in schedule reliability in October 2024.
Sea-Intelligence said Wan Hai recorded the largest increase, 5.4 percentage points, and ZIM recorded the largest decline, 3.5 percentage points.
On a Y/Y level, none of these carriers recorded an increase, with 12 of the top 13 carriers recording double-digit Y/Y declines.