Trans-Pacific carrier on-time performance to the US West and East coasts improved in March despite vessel backlogs at a number of US ports. But a disparity in the reliability gains showed how upcoming labor negotiations on the West Coast are affecting US ocean shipping dynamics.

On-time performance also improved globally in March, Sea-Intelligence Maritime Analysis said in its Global Liner Performance Report, released Wednesday.

“Global schedule reliability continues to slowly creep upwards, recording a marginal [month-over-month] improvement yet again,” Sea-Intelligence said.

On-time arrivals from Asia to US West Coast ports in March increased 7.3 percentage points from February to 20.4 percent. On the East Coast, on-time performance for vessels arriving from Asia rose to 19.7 percent, up 4.4 percentage points, according to Sea-Intelligence.

Part of the reason for the disparity in reliability gains is that East Coast imports from Asia increased in the first quarter while imports declined at West Coast ports as retailers shifted some volumes in a bid to avoid any potential disruption linked to West Coast labor negotiations that begin May 12. West Coast imports from Asia in the first quarter fell 2.6 percent from Q1 2021, while Asian imports to the East Coast increased 7.3 percent, according to PIERS, a JOC.com sister product within IHS Markit.

Average delay falls sharply on West Coast
Another measure of the impact of increased cargo volumes at East Coast ports is the average delay experienced by late-arriving vessels. The average delay for those vessels landing on the East Coast from Asia in March ticked up by 0.89 days to 12.18 days.

But delays to the West Coast for vessels arriving from Asia fell by a massive by 4.25 days to 12.22 days — the largest average month-over-month decrease in vessel delays of any of the 34 trade lanes that Sea-Intelligence tracks globally. In addition to the year-over-year decrease in import volumes, the largest West Coast gateway, Los Angeles-Long Beach, has been improving efficiency and reducing vessel delays by metering vessel arrivals through a joint program with the carriers and the Marine Exchange of Southern California.

When a vessel operator leaves the last Asian load port, they book an arrival time and assurance of labor availability with the Southern California terminal where the ship will call. The operator adjusts the speed of the vessel enroute to Los Angeles-Long Beach so that the ship arrives at the designated time, rather than loitering close to shore. This reduces safety hazards in the harbor and cuts down on diesel emissions.

On Wednesday, the container ship backlog was 46, down from the record 109 container ship backlog recorded on Jan. 9, according to the Marine Exchange of Southern California.