The shipping company Maersk, integrated into the Gemini Cooperation alongside Hapag-Lloyd, is reportedly studying the possibility of implementing a surcharge for the guarantee of a punctual service. This has been published by several media outlets referencing words spoken by the CEO of the Danish shipping company himself, Vincent Clerc, while Drewry asks: “Shouldn’t shippers expect services to be reasonably punctual, rather than being asked to pay more for it?”.
According to The Journal of Commerce, during the presentation of the third-quarter results, Vincent Clerc stated that the shipping company “has pushed some efficiency boundaries”, and that “from a cost perspective, I think it is a fairly significant lever that we have unlocked, and this has room to continue in the coming quarters”.
Drewry points out that there are several causes that generate delays in services linked to maritime transport, “some clearly outside the control of the shipping companies /or ports”, such as port strikes and congestion, weather conditions, infrastructure problems, incidents like those in the Suez Canal with the Ever Given or the attacks in the Red Sea, roll-overs, and changes in scheduling.
The alliance between the second and fifth largest shipping companies in the world by capacity has set itself the goal of raising the reliability of its itineraries above 80%, and according to Drewry, it is already achieving this. According to the maritime transport consultancy, the vessels of the Gemini Cooperation “continue to arrive punctually more frequently” than those of the other alliances, just as it “tends to cancel fewer sailings” than its competitors.
The Drewry Container Capacity Insights shows that the evolution of reliability on the Asia-Europe routes over the last five months has improved to reach a 44% punctuality rate. The month of October recorded a “punctual” decrease to 39%, while feeder vessels are currently the most exposed to port delays in Europe, assures Drewry.
In the third quarter of this year, AP Moller-Maersk recorded revenue of $14.2 billion ($15.8 billion in the same period last year); an EBITDA of $2.7 billion (compared to $4.8 billion in 2024) and an EBIT of $1.3 billion, also lower than the $3.3 billion in the third quarter of 2024.
