Container line schedule reliability dropped to its "historic low" in December, recording a  -1.2 percentage points month/month decline to 32.0% at the end of 2021, according to a new report by Sea-Intelligence.

In a statement, it said schedule reliability was also -12.5 percentage points lower year-on-year.

"[This is] the lowest ever global schedule reliability since Sea-Intelligence started the measurement in 2011," the maritime analyst added.

It noted that Despite the low schedule reliability in 2021, there hasn’t been much fluctuation, with the global scores hovering between 32%-40% for the most part.

Meanwhile, it said the average delay for late vessel arrivals increased to 7.33 days; the fifth consecutive month with the delay figure above 7 days.

Maersk remains most reliable liner in December

The maritime analyst said in its report that Maersk was once again the most reliable top-14 carrier in December 2021, with schedule reliability of 46.2%, followed by Hamburg Süd with 41.4%.

It added that only MSC had schedule reliability between 30%-40%, with six carriers recording schedule reliability of 20%-30%.

The remaining five carriers had schedule reliability of under 20%, with Evergreen recording the lowest December 2021 schedule reliability figure of 14.3%.

Meanwhile, nine carriers recorded a M/M improvement in schedule reliability, while no carrier recorded a Y/Y improvement in schedule reliability, with all but four carriers recording double-digit Y/Y declines.