Gemini Cooperation partners Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd hit their 90% on-time schedule reliability target across all trades in April/May.
Across the main deepsea trades, the carrier groupings all mostly saw similar reliability: Gemini the most on-time; followed by standalone liner MSC; and then the Ocean and finally Premier alliances.
According to new data from Sea-Intelligence Consulting, the Gemini Cooperation recorded 91.4% schedule reliability in trade arrivals during April/May, on a like-for-like comparison with the same period in the previous year, when it was still rolling out its new network.
MSC’s standalone network saw schedule reliability of 79.7%, while the Ocean and Premier alliance were third and fourth, with schedule reliability levels of 69.7% and 54%, respectively.
Gemini’s standout service was its Asia-Northern Europe Loop 3 – the AE3 at Maersk and NE3 at Hapag-Lloyd – which hit a 100% reliability across 15 arrivals during the period.
It will be interesting to see, in the next couple of months, whether Gemini will be able to maintain the loop’s 100% reliability, as the service is undergoing considerable change as new direct port calls are inserted.
Whereas the current AE3/NE3 port rotation features Gemini’s preponderance for transhipment hubs – which the partners had argued would allow them to achieve 90%-plus reliability – the new schedule will see two calls at Algeciras dropped and new North European calls added at Aarhus, Gothenburg, and Southampton.
The number of ships deployed on the string will remain the same, at 13, according to Xeneta’s eeSea liner database.
Meanwhile, Gemini’s schedule reliability across its four Asia-North Europe strings dipped to 94.1%, caused by the Asia-Northern Europe Loop 1’s schedule reliability of 81%, while Loop 2 and Loop 4 achieved 93.6% and 98.1%, respectively.
It was still well ahead of its rivals: MSC posted an Asia-North Europe reliability of 78.8%; Ocean Alliance hit 52.9%; and the Premier Alliance lagged at 39.1%.
Average reliability across all Asia-North Europe services was 67.8%, while on the Asia-Mediterranean trade it was 67.1%, which Gemini again led, with schedule reliability of 95.2%, followed by MSC with 83.9%, and the Ocean and Premier alliances with 60.9% and 59.1%, respectively.
On the transpacific liner reliability was even more impressive – Gemini recorded 97.1% on Asia-North America west coast services and 97.9% on Asia-US east coast trades.
Into the west coast, MSC had a 76% on-time arrival rate, with Ocean Alliance at 65.6% and Premier Alliance at 57.1%, while into the east coast, Ocean took second place, with 70.2%, MSC 66.1%, and the Premier Alliance was at 54.4%.
There were also a host of services that managed to hit 100% reliability, including the express EEX service operated by CMA CGM-owned APL, and three Gemini strings.
The smallest of the east-west trades, the transatlantic – on which the Premier Alliance has no network, member lines slot-chartering on other services – saw MSC top the reliability rankings between the Mediterranean and the North America east coast, at 71.7%, followed by Gemini, with 70.6%; while on the North Europe-North America east coast route, Gemini resumed top spot, at 88.2%, with MSC at 76.8%, and the Ocean Alliance with 62.5%.