Hapag-Lloyd Creates Full Transparency on Ship Arrivals

With its initiative for schedule reliability, Hapag-Lloyd addresses one of the biggest challenges in global shipping. Due to high demand, massive COVID-19-related restrictions, and the incident in the Suez Canal in April 2021, the industry is facing significant operational challenges such as congested ports, ship delays, and infrastructural bottlenecks.

(Hamburg) Nevertheless, Hapag-Lloyd wants to emphasize its commitment to addressing this critical aspect of service delivery to its customers. Hapag-Lloyd’s clear goal is to improve transparency regarding schedule adherence. By increasing the punctuality of its ships, the shipping company aims to optimize the reliability of the supply chain for its customers. The goal is also to maintain Hapag-Lloyd’s current position in the top third of the 15 largest shipping companies in terms of schedule reliability.

Punctuality at the Container Level is the Next Step

“Reliable transport and the associated transparency regarding schedule changes are essential service features that customers appreciate when managing their global supply chains,” explains Rolf Habben Jansen, CEO of Hapag-Lloyd. “As we make our schedule adherence more transparent, we are also working to improve our punctuality at the individual container level. To do this, we must first ensure the timely arrival of our ships — this is one of the most important influencing factors.” To reduce delays, Hapag-Lloyd is making significant changes to many operational processes, including improved collaboration with terminals, ports, and all land-side partners. The clear goal is for the ships to arrive on or within one day of the estimated time of arrival (ETA) specified in the booking confirmation. Adhering to punctuality can provide customers with significant benefits, such as relieving their inventory or avoiding overstocking and interim storage. The shipping company is also changing its schedules and voyage management to provide more accurate ETAs for ships and pickup times for container releases. While delays will still occur, improved arrival forecasts will allow customers to be informed more quickly, reliably, and proactively, ultimately increasing their planning certainty.

Schedules via the Customer Dashboard

Hapag-Lloyd will fully transparently present the reliability of its schedules through its Customer Dashboard. Here, both the adherence to punctuality by the shipping company and its position compared to global competitors can be measured. In addition to detailed information based on the monthly Sea-Intelligence Global Liner Performance Report, the company offers data from its in-house “Carrier Schedule Analysis” (CSA). Hapag-Lloyd presents both global data in comparison to the market and additional listings at the country, trade, and port-pair level. In the future, the shipping company will expand the scope of the information provided, ultimately down to the level of the individual container. Habben Jansen: “We are aware that we are still far from achieving the level of reliability that our customers expect from us and the entire industry. Currently, we are dealing with massive congestion in the ports and terminals. However, our teams are working intensively to address these challenges and create more transparency for our customers. At the same time, we are changing our processes to improve schedule adherence.”

Significant Improvement in Ranking

“As a result, we were able to climb from 12th out of 15 in the Sea-Intelligence Global Liner Performance Report in December 2019 to 4th in April 2021,” says Habben Jansen. “And our goal is to maintain at least this position in the top third of this ranking. We expect the global situation in the ports and terminals to normalize in the second half of 2021. In 2022, we will set concrete goals for schedule reliability,” says Habben Jansen. With its initiative for schedule reliability, Hapag-Lloyd reaffirms its commitment to qualitatively differentiate itself from its competitors and continues to pursue the course of being an active driver of change processes in the industry. With the implementation of the “Strategy 2023,” Hapag-Lloyd significantly improves service for its customers and continues its path with the overarching goal of becoming “Number One for Quality.”
Photo: © Hapag-Lloyd