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The US maritime authority now increases its monitoring of the three big container alliances following recent months' booming container rates. This happens just a few months after China summoned the container lines for a meeting to discuss a ceiling on rates.
Former Maersk Senior VP Anders Boenæs is tasked with making the world's fifth-largest container line earn more money from more efficient work flows. His biggest challenge could very well lie within The Alliance. ShippingWatch outlines the job.
Like competitor CMA CGM, Maersk and MSC have also started sailing south of Africa with certain services on the route between Europe and Asia. The shipping lines can thus cut the cost of going through the Suez Canal, which has responded with discounts.
This week, and in the coming weeks, container lines' blanked sailings will peak. Looking at the three major alliances, one stands out. There are three possible explanations, writes Sea-Intelligence.
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In only a few days, canceled sailings on major container routes have tripled, according to a report by Sea-Intelligence Consulting. MSC now offers customers drop-offs of containers in six selected hubs.
Sliding demand forces container alliance 2M, which consists of Maersk Line and MSC, to void more than one fifth of its voyages between Asia and Europe as well as Asia and the Mediterranean in the second quarter of 2020, reports Sea-Intelligence.
Maersk and MSC have found a replacement for HMM, which departs to instead join a competing alliance on April 1. The somewhat smaller shipping company SM Line was chosen, and like HMM, it is also based in South Korea.
Søren Toft's departure from Maersk makes CEO Søren Skou consider changing the management structure at the world's largest container line. As ShippingWatch reported earlier Friday, Toft will become CEO of MSC, but Skou does not expect that this will impact the two companies' alliance.
Container ships equipped with scrubbers will be able to speed up in 2020 due to their ability to tank and burn cheap bunker, thus providing a competitive advantage, writes Alphaliner. Maersk and MSC via their 2M Alliance look set to benefit in particular, the firm reports.
The 2M alliance suspends its so-called AE-2 string, also known as Swan, due to seasonally lower freight volumes out of Asia.
Sea-Intelligence estimates that 2M is set to lose 7 port pairs between Asia and the US West Coast when HMM leaves to join competitor THE Alliance next year.
Maersk and MSC will probably have to return nine sub-chartered vessels to HMM once the container liner joins THE Alliance next year, writes Alphaliner, which also offers a theory on why HMM has chosen to go elsewhere.
Maersk would have liked HMM to remain part of the 2M alliance, the company tells ShippingWatch. HMM also confirms that negotiations took place. Once the South Korean partner withdraws next year, 2M will need to find alternatives in the Pacific.
HMM's decision to not extend its strategic partnership with the 2M alliance leaves Maersk and MSC in a significantly weakened state in the Pacific. "2M will be the absolute baby brother," analyst Lars Jensen tells ShippingWatch.
South Korean container shipping company HMM becomes full member of container alliance THE Alliance. HMM has been in a strategic partnership with Maersk's 2M alliance for several years.
HMM's new chief executive will this week visit Maersk in Copenhagen as well as MSC in Geneva "to consolidate the relationship" with the 2M alliance. HMM's agreement with the container alliance expires in April 2020.
Maersk and MSC, which together form the 2M Alliance, are among the shipping companies opting to extend sailing itineraries on the Asia-Europe string. One alliance makes the opposite choice.
Ocean Alliance could be in the process of surpassing Maersk and MSC's 2M Alliance on the Asia-Europe route, assesses SeaIntelligence.
The 2M alliance with Maersk and MSC now expands its cooperation with Israeli shipping line Zim to also include voyages to the US West Coast as well as the Mediterranean.
Konsolideringen i containerindustrien rummer to modsatrettede historier, mener FN's handels- og udviklingsorganisation. For redere og afskibere er udviklingen positiv, mens den kan have negative konsekvenser for terminaler og havne.
The alliance partners are suspending a route between Asia and Europe. Although the move will have some influence, other shipowners must follow the same example for it to impact rates, says Drewry.
Allianceparterne suspenderer en fast afgang mellem Asien og Europa. Selvom manøvren vil have nogen indflydelse, skal andre redere følge samme eksempel, før det vil påvirke raterne, vurderer analysehuset Drewry.
2M partners Maersk Line and MSC add an extra leg to their route network on the Atlantic.
South Korea's Hyundai Merchant Marine, which recently abandoned a partnership on the Atlantic with Maersk and MSC, now joins forces with new partners on China-Australia.
This story could also have been titled: "Geneva calling Copenhagen," as MSC has, in a surprise move, made a public call for its 2M partner to sail slower and adjust its route network. ShippingWatch brings Maersk Line's response here.
Chartering Manager - Ultrabulk 
Dry Cargo Operator - XO Shipping 
Sales Lead with Operator / Bunker experience - Bunker Metric 
