By: Gary Ferrulli

Gary Ferrulli — Fri, 19 Jan 2018 15:41:29 +0000

Interesting comments focused on capacity and lifting’s – the real problem with industry management decision making.
My business schooling taught me that businesses are formed to make money, maximize returns to the
shareholders. Yet the focus of containerized shipping is on capacity and liftings.
Take a closer look at the Alphaliner reports that reflect the capacities as of 2020. The top 4 will be Maersk, MCS and Cosco virtually
the same size,and CMA-CGM. When looking at the Top 10, there is usually a relevancy, but not now and not at the end
of 2020. The #10 carrier will be 1/10th the size of Maersk and the numbers 6-10 carriers combined will have less capacity than
Maersk alone.
What does this mean? A very top heavy industry, with a literal handful of carriers controlling 90% of the global capacity and lift,
the rest relegated to what? Minor entities within Alliances? Niche players? It also points to that while the industry lost money
7 of the last 9 years, a few made money (very few) with Maerk’s totals in that time frame in the multiple of Billions.
For Cosco, profitability is a secondary objective, if it even ranks that high in their top 5 objectives. The $26.5 Billion that the Chinese
government is pouring into them between late 2016 and 2020 is a reflection of their intent, and they will climb to being virtually
tied with MSC and the number two carrier in capacity.
Again, what does this mean? Depends on who you are and what your interests are.

Comments on: Maersk Still Number One Carrier by Capacity

By: Gary Ferrulli