- The Ocean Alliance has overtaken the 2M alliance, adding the market share lead on the Asia-Europe tradelane to its already dominant position on the transpacific.
- The vessel-sharing alliance of CMA CGM, Cosco (including OOCL) and Evergreen did not follow its rival 2M and THE alliances in temporarily suspending an Asia-North Europe loop through to October.
- It has lifted its capacity share to 39% from 37% a year ago, according to Alphaliner data.
- Market share in terms of capacity offered by 2M partners Maersk and MSC remains at 37%, while the THEA grouping of Hapag-Lloyd, ONE, Yang Ming and HMM is down two percentage points, at 23%.
- The consultant said total vessel capacity on the Asia-Europe trades was “still well below pre Covid-19 levels”, at 361,100 teu as at 1 June, 17.1% lower than a year ago.
A recently reported article in the LoadStar written by Mike Wackett deals with the Ocean Alliance’s indirect market share grab that would in other times have been the pre-cursor of a rates war.
No aggressive discounting for its members
However, so far The Loadstar has not heard of any examples of aggressive discounting by its members, evidenced by the robust performance of the Asia-Europe components of the Shanghai Containerized Freight Index over recent weeks.
Elsewhere, despite the impact of Covid-19, Alphaliner said that average weekly capacity from the Far East to North America was only 5.3% lower than in 2019.
“Weekly capacity from the Far East to North America stood at almost 436,300 teu on 1 June, which was 24,300 teu lower than 1 June 2019,” said Alphaliner.
Transpacific capacity to pre-Covid levels
Moreover, it noted that the resumption of the 2M Asia-USWC TP8/Orient service from 8 June, the launch of Zim’s China to Los Angeles express service on 23 June and with the launch of the 2M’s China-Long Beach service planned for 6 July would have virtually returned transpacific capacity to pre-Covid levels, with some 23,000 teu returned to the route.
Transpacific ocean carriers have been encouraged by a run of successful GRIs, despite the pandemic, which has seen rates to the US west coast surge 57% higher than 12 months ago, and rates to US east coast ports ahead by 18%. Indeed, Hapag-Lloyd has recently announced a $1,500 per 40ft GRI for the US west coast, effective 1 August, a lead other carriers are expected to follow.
The growth of Ocean Alliance
The Ocean Alliance has by far the largest capacity share on the transpacific with 39%, up from 38% a year ago. THEA has increased its market share on the route from 25% to 30% due to HMM joining on 1 April, while the 2M has seen growth of 2% to a capacity share of 20%, attributed to its cooperation agreement with Zim.
Unlike the Asia-Europe trade, where other non-alliance capacity is just 1%, the ‘outsider’ share on the transpacific stands at 11%, a reduction from 18% last year.
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Source: The LoadStar
