Satisfaction levels with container lines are falling among shippers, according to a new survey from consultancy Drewry and the European Shippers' Council (ESC).
A poll of exporters, importers and freight forwarders shows a small drop in overall happiness with the service they are receiving.
The average rating by 249 shippers and forwarders awarded to container lines was 3.1 on average, down 0.1, on a scale of one to five, with five being very satisfied.
Satisfaction was lowest over clarity of prices and surcharges, transit times and reliability of booking.
These scored between 2.8 and 3.
The highest scores, of between 3.2 and 3.4, were given to the financial stability of lines, documentation accuracy, and availability of containers.
Only 4% of customers were “very dissatisfied” with carrier services and only 6% were “very satisfied”.
“The survey results reinforce the opinion...that more transparency is needed from maritime carriers,” said Jordi Espin, ESC maritime transport policy manager.
“Service levels, performance targets, market improvements, and price structuring should be set with a focus on clarity and an open-observation analysis,” Espin added.
Philip Damas, head of the logistics practice at Drewry, added: “It is very clear that clarity of prices and surcharges has become a key topic for shippers and forwarders — particularly medium-sized ones.
"Starting from the 2018 emergency fuel surcharges and continuing with the current uncertainty over post-IMO 2020 fuel surcharges, we expect the conversation between carriers and shippers to remain ongoing in 2019.
“In the short-term, carriers ought to be more transparent in their new BAF matrices and formulae and need to address their customers’ growing needs for predictability and visibility of carrier performance in the long-run if they want to reach good levels of customer satisfaction."
