TRANS-PACIFIC services mostly saw better on-time performance in September even as imports from Asia hit a 2023 peak to date.
The better performance came as shippers had more capacity available to them due to fewer cancelled sailings for the month, but ongoing draft restrictions on the Panama Canal may be taking a bite out of reliability for the US East Coast.
Sea-Intelligence Maritime Analysis' latest Global Liner Performance report showed weekly services from Asia to the US West Coast arrived on schedule 47.8 per cent of the time in September, up from 44.6 per cent in August and 32 per cent in the year-ago month. Off-schedule arrivals to the US West Coast were about 4.5 days late, Sea-Intelligence data showed, report New York's Journal of Commerce.
September's carrier performance came amid the first year-on-year growth in monthly container volumes from Asia to the West Coast for 2023. Container volumes from Northeast and Southeast Asia to the West Coast reached a combined 870,223 TEU for September, according to PIERS, a 12.8 per cent increase from September 2022.
Overall, total US imports from Asia hit 1.5 million TEU in September, up 1.4 per cent from the year-ago month.
Shippers are returning to the US West Coast now that a new six-year longshore worker contract is in place and as a hedge against any potential delays due to Panama Canal draft limits.
Ocean carriers responded to the call for more vessel space to the West Coast by loosening capacity. After cancelling some 338,561 TEU in sailings from Asia to the West Coast during July, some 22.5 per cent of total capacity, ocean carriers only cancelled, or "blanked," 235,179 TEU in September, just over 16 per cent of total capacity, according to Sea-Intelligence.
Among carrier alliances, the Ocean Alliance stood out for the highest reliability in September to the West Coast. Vessels in the Ocean Alliance were within a day of their scheduled arrival 56.1 per cent of the time, Sea-Intelligence data shows, up from 47.7 per cent in August.
THE Alliance reached 33.9 per cent for on-time arrivals in September, up from 33.3 per cent in August. The 2M Alliance saw on-time arrivals tick up to 33.3 per cent, from 27.3 per cent.
The gain in US West Coast on-time arrivals offset a slight drop for the US East Coast, which saw on-time vessel arrivals for September fall to 38.7 per cent from 39.4 per cent in August.
October arrivals to the US East Coast saw similar delays of 7.7 days on average, according to Gnosis data. The US West Coast saw delays of 5.4 days on average, while Gulf Coast delays were 6.5 days.
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