Global News Improved US cargo flow drives continued gains in trans-Pacific schedule reliability

Vessel schedule reliability in the Asia-US trade edged higher month on month in December, but the on-time performance of carriers registered impressive double-digit gains compared with December 2021 when port congestion clogged terminals on both coasts.

Schedule reliability to the West Coast in December improved by 0.6 percentage point from November to 41.2 percent, according to the Global Liner Performance report released Wednesday by Sea-Intelligence Maritime Analysis.

The year-over-year gain, though, was “higher by a massive 31.4 percentage points compared to the 9.7 percent recorded at the same time last year,” Sea-Intelligence said.

Schedule reliability to the East Coast in December increased 1.7 percentage points over November to 37.2 percent. On a year-over-year basis, reliability was up just over 18 percentage points from the 19.1 percent on-time performance achieved in December 2021, according to Sea-Intelligence.

West Coast ports in December 2021 experienced unprecedent congestion due to near-record imports from Asia. The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach were the epicenter of that congestion, with more than 100 container ships backed up at the largest US port complex. However, cargo volumes began to drop rapidly in the fall of 2022, and by December all West Coast ports were relatively congestion-free.

Congestion at East Coast ports grew worse last year as retailers, concerned about the possibility of cargo-handling disruptions amid still-unresolved West Coast contract negotiations between terminal operators and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), diverted discretionary cargo to ports on the East and Gulf coasts. Vessel backlogs and terminal congestion at East Coast ports had mostly dissipated by December as weakened consumer spending caused imports from Asia to decline. Continued decline in imports expected Absent a disruptive event such as a breakdown in the ILWU contract negotiations, which are now in their ninth month, carrier on-time performance in the largest US trade lane is likely to continue improving because import volumes are expected to remain soft in the first half of the year. According to the Global Port Tracker that is published monthly by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates, US imports are forecasted to decline by double digits on a year-over-year basis at least through May.