Container line schedule reliability bucked further decline in September according to Sea-Intelligence after August' all-time low.

The maritime analyst said in its latest Global Liner Performance (GLP) report that schedule reliability has "improved marginally" in September 2021, by 0.6 percentage points to 34.0%, maintaining the range of 34%-40% seen throughout the year.

"The only 'positive', if one should call it that, is that schedule reliability is not plummeting further," it said.

On a year-on-year level, Sea-Intelligence said schedule reliability in September 2021 was down -22.0 percentage points although it noted that the average delay for late vessel arrivals also "improved marginally," dropping to 7.27 days, albeit still the highest figure for this month, which has been a theme throughout 2021.

Maersk remains most reliable liner in September

Maersk Line was once again the most reliable top-14 carrier in September 2021, with schedule reliability of 44.2%, followed by Hamburg Süd with 37.3%.

Another two carriers had schedule reliability between 30%-40%, with only four carriers recording schedule reliability of 20%-30%.

Meanwhile, Sea-Intelligence noted that six carriers had schedule reliability of under 20%, with Evergreen recording the lowest September 2021 schedule reliability of just 11.7%.

Six carriers recorded a month-on-month improvement in schedule reliability, while no carrier recorded a year-on-year improvement in schedule reliability, with all carriers except Maersk Line recording double-digit year over year declines of over 20.0 percentage points.