Container lines miss out on large profits by staying loyal to customers

It pays off for carriers to increase rates in the short term. If they let freight rates rise slower than the market, they lose out on large profits.

Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd are among the shipping companies that lost big sums by being loyal to shippers, while HMM allowed freight rates to follow the market price, thereby resulting in relatively limited financial losses. | Photo: Christian Charisius/AP/Ritzau Scanpix

by METTE GRUBE CONDRUP

Shipping companies could benefit from abandoning loyalty to shippers and raise freight rates when market prices rise - because when the market turns negative, they stand to lose with their current approach, notes Sea-Intelligence in new analysis.

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