Why Is My Container Always Late?!
As a shipper, you may frequently encounter your containers reaching you late. To answer this question, understanding the common reasons as well as how your haulier plans their trips for their drivers is essential, so that you can better work with your hauliers and plan ahead.
Common Reasons for Your Container’s Late Arrival
The reasons for your container’s late arrival is non-exhaustive, but below are a few common ones.
Speed Limit of Heavy Vehicles
- As prime movers are heavy vehicles, they will need to adhere to Singapore’s speed limit of 50-60km/h. This means that generally, they are slower on the road.
Weather Conditions
- When it rains, most depots stop work altogether. This is because most depots have no shelter and continuing the lifting of containers under adverse weather conditions can be dangerous.
- Furthermore, during wet weather, drivers often have to practice extra caution on the road to avoid accidents.
Traffic Conditions
- Traffic conditions during peak periods can result in your containers arriving later, in addition to drivers’ having to adhere to safe driving practices.
Driver’s Existing Schedule
- Hauliers would have already planned or scheduled their trips for their drivers, hence if there are any delays in any job, the effects will cascade down to the subsequent jobs. Anything – from weather conditions to containers being held up at a location – can affect all subsequent jobs.
Understanding How Hauliers Plan their Drivers’ Schedule
Before we move on, here’s a quick recap of some key terms:
- Export trip: Containers going out of the country
- Import trip: Containers coming into the country.
- Empty pickup: Empty containers that are fit for use are collected from container depots, to be brought to the customer’s premises for container stuffing. This is usually part of an export trip.
- Empty return: Empty containers, after unstuffing by customers, are collected and returned to the container depot for storage. This is usually part of an import trip.
Here’s a quick overview of how a typical day for a driver is planned:
| 5am | EXPORT – CUSTOMER SITE > PORT • The first trip of the day is usually an export trip. • Drivers will need to collect a loaded container from the customers’ warehouse before making their way the port. The container may have already been picked up the day before. • This can start as early as 5am. • The driver will then wait for the container to be picked up and loaded onto the vessel for export. |
| 6am | IMPORT – PORT • Since the driver is already at the port, the next trip is ideally an import trip. • They will usually pick up an import container that has been offloaded from a vessel. |
| 7am | IMPORT – CUSTOMER SITE • Next, the driver will bring the import container to the customer’s premises (e.g. at Woodlands). • The container, sitting atop the trailer, will be left at the customer’s premises. |
| 7.30am | EMPTY RETURN – CUSTOMER SITE • The driver will then proceed to truck out an empty container to return to the depot at another customer’s location (e.g. at Senoko). |
| 9am | EMPTY PICKUP – DEPOT The driver will then proceed to truck out the empty container to the nominated container depot, where it will be reused for another export shipment with the same carrier (aka shipping line). OR: IMPORT – PORT Else, it may also be arranged for the driver to proceed to the port again to pick up another import container to send to customer’s premises. |
Note:
The wait at the port and/or the depot averages 45 mins (yes, that includes queuing and waiting to pick up the container or for it to be lifted off!).
After 9am, the process is usually repeated to fill up the driver’s schedule as efficiently as possible to reduce empty trips (i.e. the scenario when a driver is not trucking a container is an empty trip, where the haulier is not earning any money for that trip).
Haulio's Job Pool Benefits
Haulio aims to reduce inefficiencies in haulier’s fleet scheduling through technology.
With our job pool, hauliers can take up jobs to fill up their empty legs. Through our Haulio Connectivity System (HCS), hauliers can also better schedule their trips using our Kanban-style Scheduling Board.
In Singapore, a trip usually takes 1.5-2 hours, hence a driver typically trucks 6-8 trips per day. Of course, if a driver puts in longer hours and there are no delays, he/she might be able to complete 8-10 trips on a good day.
Nobody likes to be scolded for being late. We hope that the above article helps you better understand why your container may arrive late, and communicate better with your haulier to work around any potential issues!
Together, We Cargo Faster
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