Container line schedule reliability recorded another "marginal improvement" in October, of 0.4 percentage points to 34.4%, maintaining the range of 34%-40% seen throughout the year according to a new report by Sea Intelligence.

The maritime analyst said in its latest Global Liner Performance (GLP) report that the only “positive”, if one should call it that, is that schedule reliability is not plummeting further.

Sea Intelligence noted that on a year-on-year level, schedule reliability in October 2021 was down -18.0 percentage points.

The average delay for late vessel arrivals also improved marginally, it said, dropping to 7.34 days, albeit still the highest figure for this month, which has been a theme throughout 2021.

Maersk remains most reliable liner in September

Meanwhile, Sea Intelligence said Maersk was once again the most reliable top-14 carrier in October 2021, with schedule reliability of 46.4%, followed by Hamburg Süd with 38.1%.

Another three carriers had schedule reliability between 30%-40%, with five carriers recording schedule reliability of 20%-30% and four carriers had schedule reliability of under 20%.

It said Evergreen recorded the lowest October 2021 schedule reliability of just 13.4%.

"Ten carriers recorded a month/month improvement in schedule reliability, while no carrier recorded a year/year improvement in schedule reliability, with all but three carriers recording double-digit year/year declines of over 20.0 percentage points," it said.