Schedule reliability across the world has been pretty poor throughout the year, as several ports and regions have been severely impacted by port congestion, according to Sea-Intelligence’s latest report.
As can be seen in the following figure, on Asia to North America West Coast, at its peak, vessel arrivals that were 7‑13 and 14‑20 days late were higher than at the height of the 2015 US West Coast labour dispute.
In January-May 2021, a staggering 695 vessel arrivals were over a week late, of which 343 vessel arrivals were more than 14 days late, with 132 of the vessel arrivals being more than 21 days late, according to Sea-Intelligence data.
For comparison, from January 2012 to December 2020, 1,535 vessel arrivals were more than a week late, 330 were more than 2 weeks late, and a combined 104 vessel arrivals were over 21 days late.
Additionally, on Asia-North Europe, 461 vessel arrivals were more than 7 days late in January-May 2021, of which 134 were more than 14 days late, and 30 were more than 21 days late, according to Sea-Intelligence statistics.
This is compared to 792 vessel arrivals being more than 7 days late in the 9-year period from January 2012 to December 2020. In the same period, 35 vessel arrivals were more than 14 days late, and just two vessel arrivals were more than 21 days late.
“Port congestion is far from over,” pointed out the Danish consultancy Sea-Intelligence.
In just May 2021, 174 vessels that berthed in North American ports on the Transpacific trade were over 7 days late, on Asia-Europe, the number was 114, while on Transatlantic, the number was 169. In the same month, on the Asia-Indian Subcontinent trade, 99 vessels were over a week late, while on Asia-Oceania, the number was 134.
