Long transit times do not inherently cause problems for importers, as that can be factored into their lead times; what often creates operational issues is when the actual transit times deviate from the scheduled transit times. This could be deviations both when the actual transit time is shorter than scheduled (potentially extra detention and demurrage charges) or longer than scheduled (potential downstream delays). One way to visualise these deviations is by looking at the Interquartile Range (IQR) of the transit time deviations. The IQR measures the range within which 50% of the transit time deviations fall. A smaller IQR means that the bulk of the transit time deviations for a trade lane are closely clustered together, whereas a larger IQR signifies that transit time deviations, for the middle half, are more spread out. (....)