Schedule reliability drops for 3rd month in Jan: K+N

On-time performance data of vessels shows that schedule reliability dropped for a third consecutive month in January. It is worth noting that last month's downturn was more significant than in the previous two months, according to the latest update from Kuehne+Nagel.

"The graph below illustrates that on-time performance declined 9.6 percentage points month-on-month to 47.1 percent in January.​ ​Similar levels were last seen in September 2022.​ A year-on-year comparison reveals a difference of 5.7 percentage points between January 2023 and January 2024.​"

Despite the significant decline in global on-time performance, the average arrival delay of LATE vessels increased only by 0.2 days month-on-month.​ "Interestingly, the month-on-month increases in November and December 2023 were also 0.2 days."​

​As illustrated in the figure below, the average delay of LATE vessels in January 2024 was 0.5 days lower than in January 2023. ​

The global monthly average arrival delay of ALL vessels was two days, a 0.3-day increase compared to December 2023. This is only slightly higher than January 2023 but exceeds the average delays seen in any one month in 2023, the release added.

Reliability drops across trade lanes
On-time performance deteriorated across all major trade lanes in January.​ "As expected, the trades most impacted by the situation in the Red Sea saw the most significant decline in their on-time performance. ​Asia-Mediterranean/Black Sea recorded the steepest drop from 61.9 percent in December to 39 percent in January, a decline of 22.9 percentage points. This made it the least reliable trade lane for the month.​ Following closely behind, on-time performance for Asia-North Europe declined by 35 percent to 39.1 percent."

Blank sailing data shows that 7.8 percent of sailings were blanked on the westbound leg in weeks 1 to 5, the update added.