Buffer times not working

Wednesday, 11 March 2009

DESPITE the popularity of extended round-voyage times as lines use ‘slow steaming’ to reduce fuel costs and add buffer time to schedules, there has been little improvement in the time-keeping of lines in the Europe/Southeast Asia trade over the past year.

Admittedly, five of the six operations that improved significantly in this respect since last year’s survey had been restructured in this way, although the sixth was still operating to a 56-day schedule rather than the 63 days that is now the norm for the trade.

In many cases, schedule extensions were applied to operations that were performing relatively well, resulting in only slightly improved averages. Interestingly, some of the better performers were 56-day operations.

On several strings, lines did not provide a sailing on every one of the 20 weeks in the survey window. In some cases this was due to a need to give ships an extra week to complete their round trips, in order to get back on schedule, but in most cases it was due to the downturn in volume growth – given the multiple loading options enjoyed by most lines, a sailing every week on some loops was unnecessary.

Once again there were some pretty awful results, and averages of over two days behind schedule were recorded for nine operations. These include MSC’s two strings, although both did show some improvement, both UASC operations and three of the five Grand Alliance loops.

The Grand’s EU2 loop achieved the seemingly illogical feat of averaging over seven days behind schedule at Singapore – quite an achievement for a weekly service. Delays in the Middle East were a major factor, but it seems odd that the lines persist with the current schedule, which allowed just 23 days from Southampton to Singapore, when the Liner Analysis recorded average was over 27.

A 10th ship has been added to the EU4 loop, and a similar move would certainly help the EU2. An extra ship was drafted into the latter for one round voyage, and a week’s sailing skipped in January, but so far no sign of a permanent alteration.

On a happier note, two other Grand Alliance loops – the EU1 and EU3 – showed a marked improvement, particularly the latter.

Wayport calls in the Middle East were a source of concern for several lines beside the Grand Alliance partners, notably UASC, whose AEC1 was severely disrupted by delays at Jeddah and Jebel Ali.
On a more positive note, 12 of the 28 operations for which results were available recorded averages of under 0.5 days late, and among these several are worthy of mention.

All four Maersk Line operations fell into this category, although the excellent AE8 has been lost in the recent network restructuring, and the AE10 re-modelled. One of the three New World Alliance loops that occupied the higher ranks has also been suspended, while the Evergreen CES has been merged into the UAE pendulum.

Topping the list of continuing operations was the “K” Line-operated PM1/PAN pendulum, although the line’s overall average is pulled down by the result of the AE1/AES.

Weighing up the various operations, it is Evergreen that once again takes the mantle of Star Performer, with both the CES and CEM loops standing out. Although some arrival dates at Tanjung Pelepas were not available for the CES, data for ports called before and after show that there would not have been any late arrivals on these sailings.

Since the survey window closed Evergreen has made some changes, but these should not adversely affect performance. The new UAE pendulum follows the rotation of the CES on this leg, apart from the removal of Taranto, so it actually has more slack than its predecessor, while an extra week has been added to the rotation of the CEM, giving it more buffer time despite the transfer of the Taranto call from the CES.

The choice of operations with rapid transit times to the region from the UK has inevitably been reduced by the popularity of slow steaming, and this has now reached the point where only three have scheduled times of under 21 days.

The three – all to Singapore – are the New World Alliance AEX (17 days from Thamesport), “K” Line/Yangming AES/AE1 (18 days from Felixstowe) and Grand Alliance EU4, to which the recent restoration of a Southampton call has provided another 18-day option.

To Malaysian ports, both Evergreen loops now offer 21 days from Thamesport to Tanjung Pelepas, while CMA CGM allows the same number of days from Southampton to Port Klang. These are the best direct times available to both ports.

Taken together, “K” Line and Yangming’s three loops lead the way from the UK to Singapore (18, 21 and 22 days for the individual loops giving an average of 20.3), followed by the New World Alliance (an average 21.5 days for the AEX and SCX).

In the period under review, with all loops taken into consideration, “K” Line and Yangming were the fastest to Singapore from the UK, Evergreen to Tanjung Pelepas (although with no direct rivals), and CMA CGM to Port Klang. All three have thus been selected as Liner Analysis Star Performers in the UK transit times category.