Do carriers care about reliability?

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Ask this question to any shipper and odds-on you’ll hear “no” for an answer, but it would also appear that container shipping lines have now also given up the pretense of caring about reliability.

It’s an open secret no more – they simply don’t give a damn; cost control is the main priority.

According to this typically topical analysis from Drewry, even Maersk, the poster-boy of shipping reliability, has seen its previously high standards decline precipitously. However, this is now starting to cause problems throughout the container supply chain – problems that might ultimately cost the carriers more than they are currently saving on fuel.