Drewry: Maersk Line most reliable carrier

Technical error reveals that Maersk Line never left the number one position in Q4-2012, remaining the most reliable major carrier for the twelfth time in 13 quarters.

Drewry has now published its Carrier Performance Insight report for the first quarter. The shipping consultants have “become aware of a technical error relating to ship reliability results dating back to the third quarter of 2011.”

The change means that unlike what was published in February 2013 by Drewry, Maersk Line remains “the most reliable major carrier for the twelfth time in 13 quarters (among carriers with a minimum of 100 voyage counts in a quarter). The Danish mega-carrier achieved an all-trades on-time average of 89.1% in the first quarter, down fractionally on its revised score of 89.3% in the fourth quarter.”

Maersk Line’s schedule reliability on the Asia to Europe trade is 100%. Asked what Maersk Line does differently to maintain reliability, Head of the Northern European Liner Operations Team, Anders Lund Kristensen, replies:  “There seems to be a general belief that reliability comes at a (much higher) cost. This is undoubtedly true if it is achieved without an end-to-end approach, i.e. if the network is not both designed and operated reliably. Our view in Maersk Line is that reliability and cost effectiveness are two sides of the same coin, and we design and operate our network as such. Our efforts go into reducing waste while being the most reliable carrier. This also enables our customers to reduce waste in their own supply chains.”