The nice graphs here show that ocean carrier schedule reliability is extremely low, hovering between 30 and 40%.
The COVID years of 2020 and 2021 have seen a remarkable drop from the 70% to 80% reliability of 2018 and 2019. Is COVID likely the culprit? To some extent the disruption it triggered caused order fluctuation that the ocean carriers with their very large ships were not prepared for. The ensuing port congestion coupled with the practice of blanking sailings of the very large ships when they were not nearly full caused the drop.
I don’t see how a service with a 30% to 40% reliability can maintain itself. The ocean carriers say that back to normal demand will fix the problem, but the fact is that demand for instance from Asia to the West Coast US is actually still below peaks of 2019. So normal demand would be higher, not lower.
Vessel schedule reliability lowest on record 27 January 2022 Port Technology International Team
Vessel schedule reliability lowest on record – Port Technology International
Supply Chain and Logistics 