New Industry Report Shows Rising Unscheduled Downtime in Ports

The third Barometer Report from Trelleborg’s Marine Systems business has revealed that an overwhelming majority – over 90% – of those surveyed suffer from unscheduled downtime at their facility.

Trelleborg’s annual Barometer Report, which has been running for three years, has previously discovered that ports are suffering from high levels of downtime, but this is a significant increase compared to last year’s results, when just under 80% claimed the same.

Richard Hepworth, President of the Marine Systems business unit of Trelleborg, said: “The results of the last Barometer Report led us to suggest that the levels of unscheduled downtime faced by ports may worsen due to inaction on the issue. This year’s results certainly seem to suggest that this is now happening: far from ports getting to grips with unscheduled downtime, it’s actually getting worse.

“The increase in traffic flows and vessel sizes coming through ports mean that there is a need across the industry to update infrastructure in order to keep pace with change. We’re finding that some are not upgrading their facilities quickly enough, which may be exacerbating the issue. Inadequate infrastructure means more incidents, more downtime and lost revenue.”

The majority of respondents in this year’s report estimated that unscheduled downtime costs their facility at least £100,000 per year. However, the relationship between unscheduled downtime and revenue extends further than just the direct costs of the terminal or berth not being in operation. The less tangible cost to ports in damaged relationships with shipping lines and other stakeholders should not be underestimated.

Trelleborg’s Barometer Report

Trelleborg, June 11, 2013