Sea-Intelligence has ranked the world’s top 202 deep-sea ports by schedule reliability, highlighting which ports are best at keeping vessels on time amid increasing operational pressures.
The analysis, featured in this week’s Sunday Spotlight, draws on nearly 14 years of data and adjusts for both the recency of performance and monthly port call volume to create a comprehensive reliability “power ranking.”
Santa Marta, Colombia, ranks as the most reliable deep-sea port, with a schedule reliability of 94.5 per cent, according to Sea-Intelligence.
Regionally, Central and South America dominate the top 20, with 12 entries, followed by six ports from Europe, while no Asian ports made the list.
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Notably, the world’s 20 most-called ports perform poorly in the ranking, averaging 124th out of 202, with an average reliability of just 60.3 per cent.
The highest-ranked Asian port, Tanjung Pelepas, appears at 46th, while the top North American port is in 51st position.
Major hubs such as Shanghai (169th), Singapore (145th), Los Angeles (124th), Long Beach (155th), and Rotterdam (106th) all rank well outside the top tier.
This suggests a clear trend: the most connected ports in global deep-sea trade tend to be among the least reliable.
While vessel operations largely drive schedule reliability, port performance remains a key factor in overall supply chain efficiency.
