Innovating. Shipment Success Through Intelligent Visibility. Issue 18 April 2014

Transcription

1 Issue 18 April 2014 Shipment Success Through Intelligent Visibility WELCOME to the April issue of CargoSmart s, a monthly, complimentary e-newsletter for the ocean shipping industry. is designed to provide insights about cargo delays around the globe that you may find useful to improve your daily operations and strategic planning. At the end of February and throughout March, truckers held protests and a strike at Canada s largest port, Port Metro Vancouver. Cargo transiting through the port by truck experienced major disruptions. As a result, many shippers diverted cargo to alternate nearby ports. In our feature article this month, we took the opportunity to compare the port performance of the surrounding Pacific Northwest ports where shippers may have rerouted their cargo Port of Tacoma, Port of Prince Rupert, and Port of Seattle. We reviewed the traffic, vessel arrival delays, and berth times at each of the ports during the months of February and March. India has started several port expansion projects to alleviate port congestion. This month we analyzed vessel arrival delays at India s ports and found that 35.5% of the vessels arrived more than a day late from mid-february through mid-march. In our monthly Incidents Around the World column, we analyzed the impact of the trucker protests and strike on average daily berth times at the Port Metro Vancouver. We invite you to share your delay experiences with us on our visibility blog at visibility.cargosmart.com/blog or by at innovating@cargosmart.com. Graham Collins Executive Editor ABOUT INNOVATING CargoSmart is creating a whole new visibility model for ocean shippers and logistics service providers to monitor their shipments. The rules of the game are changing in the global shipping and logistics industry. CargoSmart s insights for the industry to manage their shipments that have exceptions. CargoSmart s monthly, complimentary newsletter delivers refreshing insights for you to make intelligent decisions for your supply chain. CONTENTS 2 India Vessel Delays 4 World Incidents: Vancouver Strike 5 Contact 6 CargoSmart 2014 CargoSmart Limited. All rights reserved. 1

2 PACIFIC NORTHWEST PORT PERFORMANCE From February 26 through March 26, truckers held protests and a strike at Canada s largest port, Port Metro Vancouver. Cargo transiting through the port by truck experienced major disruptions. To avoid disruptions, many shippers diverted cargo to other ports. What are the alternate ports to Vancouver in the Pacific Northwest during a strike? And, what is the port performance at these ports? This month, CargoSmart s Global Vessel Voyage Monitoring Center (GVVMC) investigated to find the answers to these questions. The GVVMC reviewed three ports Port of Tacoma, Port of Seattle, Port of Tacoma and Port of Prince Rupert to analyze the vessel arrival delays and berth times of 21 carriers from February 1 to March 27, Tacoma Seattle Prince Rupert Average Berth Time (Hours) Figure 1: Average berth time of vessels at the three Pacific Northwest ports from February 1 to March 27 Prince Rupert Port of Tacoma Vancouver Unique Vessel Arrivals 73 Average Delay (Hours) Tacoma Ports of Tacoma, Seattle, and Prince Rupert Seattle Percentage of On-Time Vessels 8.22% Percentage of Vessel Delays (> 12 Hours) 49.32% Percentage of Vessel Delays (> 24 Hours) 24.66% Figure 2: Port of Tacoma performance from February 1 to March 27 Port of Tacoma The Port of Tacoma is an independent seaport located in Tacoma, Washington. It plays a large international trade role in the Pacific Northwest. It not only has deep-water terminals equipped with cargo-handling equipment, it also has a large number of third-party logistics service providers located near the port to increase supply chain flexibility and efficiency. Mainland China and Japan are the top two trading partners of this port in both trade value and volume. According to the GVVMC s statistics from February 1 to March 27, 73 vessels berthed at this port. As shown in Figures 1 and 2, the average berth time was hours and the average vessel arrival delay was nearly 19 hours during the two months. Only 8.22% of the vessels arrived on time and a total of 49.32% arrived with delays of more than 12 hours. Port of Seattle The Port of Seattle is made up of 1,543 acres of waterfront land, including over 500 acres of terminal facilities. It offers direct services to and from Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Similar to the Port of Tacoma, it is a natural deep-water port and equipped with efficient intermodal infrastructure. According to the GVVMC s statistics in February and March, 75 vessels berthed at this port. The Port of Seattle had the lowest average vessel arrival delay during the two months of hours, while it had the longest average berth time of hours. Compared to the Port of Tacoma, the Port of Seattle had a slightly shorter average arrival delay and a slightly longer average berth time. However, as shown in Figure 3, 38.67% of the vessels arrived on time, or nearly five times the number of on-time vessels compared to the Port of Tacoma. CargoSmart 2014 CargoSmart Limited. All rights reserved. 2

3 Port of Seattle Port of Prince Rupert Port of Seattle Unique Vessel Arrivals 75 Average Delay (Hours) Percentage of On-Time Vessels 38.67% Percentage of Vessel Delays (> 12 Hours) 42.67% Percentage of Vessel Delays (> 24 Hours) 21.33% Figure 3: Port of Seattle performance from February 1 to March 27 Port of Prince Rupert Unique Vessel Arrivals 28 Average Delay (Hours) Percentage of On-Time Vessels 21.43% Percentage of Vessel Delays (> 12 Hours) 64.29% Percentage of Vessel Delays (> 24 Hours) 57.14% Figure 4: Port of Prince Rupert performance from February 1 to March 27 Port of Prince Rupert The Port of Prince Rupert is a sheltered, ice-free harbor providing an unobstructed entry to shipping lanes in the Pacific Ocean. It is one of the deepest natural harbors and has some of the shortest trade routes between North America and Asia's fast growing economies. The port is also a terminus station of Canadian National Railway, efficiently connecting the port to cities on the Pacific, Atlantic, and Gulf coasts. For the Port of Prince Rupert, 28 vessels berthed during the sampling period. As shown in Figure 4, it had the longest average arrival delay of hours, which means most vessels were delayed more than a day. The average berth time of hours, however, was the lowest among the three ports. Six vessels arrived on time within the two-month sampling period and 64.29% of the vessels arrived with delays of more than 12 hours. The timeliness level of this port is 50% lower than the other two ports. For the comparison among three ports, all three ports are relatively small ports based on the schedules and data of actual arrivals and departures. Particularly at the Port of Prince Rupert, only 28 vessels arrived during the two months within the GVVMC s scope of 21 carriers and more than 5,500 vessels. However, the results revealed the Port of Seattle, with the most vessel arrivals monitored, had the most vessels arriving on time and the lowest average arrival delay. The GVVMC shares statistics on ports performance so that you can better plan your shipments and carefully select the appropriate schedules and routings to minimize delays. The statistics reflect the general situation in the past. The future performance of the vessels and ports will depend on the actual conditions that are affected by weather, vessel delays, and other factors. CargoSmart 2014 CargoSmart Limited. All rights reserved. 3

4 VESSEL DELAY STUDY: INDIA PORTS Last May, provided a study of vessel delays at India ports. Since then, several ports in India have started infrastructure projects to ease congestion and increase capacity. At the same time, the Indian Ports Association provided traffic statistics revealing that the number of containers handled by major ports dropped 3.1% year-over-year in the fiscal year (from April 2013 to March 2014). This month we revisited India s port performance to review vessel arrival delays. 35.5% of Vessel Arrivals Delayed More Than a Day We analyzed vessel arrival schedules from 22 ocean carriers at India ports from February 15 to March 15. By analyzing schedule data and comparing the actual time of arrivals to the estimated time of arrivals of the coastal schedules provided by the carriers, we monitored 377 unique vessel arrivals covering 12 ports in India. Within this period, more than 50% of the vessel arrivals were delayed more than 12 hours, while 35.5% were delayed over 24 hours. A summary of the results is shown in Figure 1. Total Unique Vessel Arrivals 377 Number of Delayed Vessels (Delay > 12 Hours) 197 (52.3%) Number of Delayed Vessels (Delay > 24 Hours) 134 (35.5%) Figure 1: Abstract result of unique vessel arrivals from 22 carriers from February 15 to March 15 Figure 2 shows the details for five of the busiest India ports for container vessels in this period, namely, Chennai, Kolkata, Mundra, Nhava Sheva, and Pipavav. The results show that the most visited ports, Nhava Sheva and Mundra, performed similarly, while Kolkata had the most severe delays. Chennai Kolkata Mundra Nhava Sheva Pipavav Number of Unique Arrivals Average Delay (Hours) Percentage of Vessel Delays (> 1 Day) 44.2% 70.2% 26.1% 27.6% 7.0% Figure 2: The performance of five ports from 22 carriers from February 15 to March 15 When referring back to the data from March and April in the May issue of, the average delay time increased at most of the ports except Kolkata. As India completes its port expansion projects, we will continue to monitor the situation of the delays at the country s ports. Mundra Kolkata Pipavav Nhavav Sheva Figure 3: Five India ports performance from February 15 to March 15 Chennai Ports of Chennai, Kolkata, Mundra, Nhava Sheva, and Pipavav CargoSmart 2014 CargoSmart Limited. All rights reserved. 4

5 INCIDENTS AROUND THE WORLD Vessel casualties, port strikes, facility shutdowns, and extreme weather can all affect vessel schedules and potentially delay shipments. In this column, we cover incidents around the world that caught our attention during the previous month and their impact on shipment delays. Vessels Ports March 8 March 18 March 1-26 March 3 March 23 March 24 March 27 YUSUF CEPNIOGLU, flooded and ran aground, north of Mykonos General cargo vessel BEAGLE III collided with container ship PEGASUS PRIME and sank in Tokyo Bay Trucker strike at Port Metro Vancouver, Canada Trucker protest, Manila port, Philippines Houston Ship Channel closed due to oil spill, USA San Lorenzo and Rosario strike, Argentina Strike at Kiel Canal locks, Germany Port Metro Vancouver Trucker Strike Beginning on February 26, Canada s largest port, Port Metro Vancouver, experienced several rounds of trucker protests over long wait times and low rates. In March, the situation grew worse with a strike that lasted for several weeks. The strike disrupted trucking and drayage operations as well as had a huge impact on loading operations. Finally on March 26, the truckers and the Canadian government reached an agreement. Below are the figures of vessels average berth times in Vancouver in March. The deviation of berth times was quite large throughout the month, especially following the weekends. Data Sample Date Range: March 1 March 28 Vessel Arrivals: 56 Carriers Included: 15 Average Berth Time: 38.5 hours Longest Berth Time: hours On March 7, we reported the impact of the protests on our blog at visibility.cargosmart.com/blog. We found that from February 12 March 1 the average berth time was over 46 hours. It is possible that when shippers began diverting their cargo to other ports, including Seattle and Tacoma, the berth time decreased in Vancouver in March. CargoSmart 2014 CargoSmart Limited. All rights reserved. 5

6 ARE YOU THE LAST TO KNOW WHEN YOUR SHIPMENT IS DELAYED IN TRANSIT GET A HELPING HAND WITH EARLY VISIBILITY WHEN YOUR SHIPMENTS ARE DELAYED CargoSmart is pleased to offer VisibilitySmart, a new service for shippers and logistics service providers. VisibilitySmart identifies when cargo has an unexpected delay. While provides updates on vessels and trends at an aggregated level, VisibilitySmart delivers early alerts and summary reports at the container level when your cargo faces delivery exceptions. Pilot trials have proven the excellent potential for collaboration between shippers, logistics service providers, and ocean carriers.? Request a free demo today at visibility.cargosmart.com. DATA METHODOLOGY CargoSmart established the Global Vessel Voyage Monitoring Center (GVVMC) to detect and analyze exceptions as they are happening so that shippers, forwarders, and NVOCCs can be informed earlier. Opened in Hong Kong in October 2012, the GVVMC monitors and analyzes 21 ocean carriers vessel movements covering 5,000 vessels and 800 ports around the world. Using advanced analytical software tools, the center analyzes standard vessel patterns, compares them with actual vessel movements, and detects deviations that have the potential to cause shipment-plan exceptions. The GVVMC obtains data from the Automatic Identification System (AIS), ocean carrier websites, marine terminals, and shipment data. The center ensures high data quality by observing and reconciling multiple data sources. VISIBILITY BLOG - JOIN THE DISCUSSION Follow updates and share your insights about vessel delays on CargoSmart's blog at visibility.cargosmart.com/blog. To receive the monthly newsletter for the shipping industry by , please subscribe at We value your feedback and want to continue to improve our service and information that we provide to you. To provide feedback or ask questions, please contact us at innovating@cargosmart.com. China Germany Hong Kong United Kingdom United States CargoSmart 2014 CargoSmart Limited. All rights reserved. 6