The productivity at the top 30 global container ports increased by only 2% between the first half of 2014 and the same period of 2016, writes IHS Fairplay.

The study carried out by CTI Consultancy is based on port call data from 74% of the world’s container fleet operators and ship tracking satellite data by IHS Markit and compares the number of container moves per port call divided by the time spent by vessel at port.

The productivity improved at the ports of North America (+39%) and North Europe (+17%) due to a reduction in average steam-in time by 2 hours. In major ports of Southeast Asia the overall productivity declined by 3% due to an increase in average steam-in time from 5.6 hours to 7.5 hours, although their berth productivity improved by 6%. The results of the analysis of the Mediterranean ports demonstrate the biggest drop in productivity (-30%), as average steam-in time increased from 4.2 hours to 8.3 hours and berth productivity declined by 12%.

According to the study, relative berth productivity (the number of moves divided by time at berth and weighted for average call size) decreased in most regions: in the Middle East by 10%, in the Mediterranean by 10%, in North America by 13%, and in North Europe by 1%. In Southeast Asia and East Asia it slightly improved.