AXS-Alphaliner reveals Far East-Europe ocean container capacity figures
AXS-Alphaliner has released the results of its latest capacity survey, along with its projection and market share analysis.
There are 22 operating groups offering a total of 54 weekly full container loops on the Far East-Europe run (including FE-Med services), plus three loops from Europe to ANZ and returning via the Far East.
Together, these 57 loops offer a weekly capacity of 321,500 TEU on an annualised basis, according to figures produced by AXS-Alphaliner based on the capacity to be deployed in April-May 2007. This represents a 16.5% increase per annum over the past two years.
The strong euro is a factor in the booming Far East-Europe trade, and the weak US$ has kept a lid on Far East-US trade, since Asian exports have tended to proceed to Europe instead of the US. A projection to April-May 2008 shows that, roughly, 400,000 TEU of new ship capacity will have to be added within the space of twelve months in order to cope with this growth, which is enough to absorb some 25% of the capacity to be delivered by the shipyards.
Maersk Line provides the highest capacity on the Far East-Europe route, with 52,155 TEU slots weekly, representing 20.7% of the total capacity deployed. Maersk Line alone provides more slots than the four CKYH partners (COSCO, ‘K’ Line, Yang Ming, Hanjin-Senator), which provide 18% of the total capacity.
CKYH is followed by Grand Alliance (Hapag-Lloyd, NYK, OOCL, MISC), with 12%. It has suffered from the loss of P&O Nedlloyd (in which the Alliance had an 18% share).
New World Alliance (APL, MOL, Hyundai) provides 7.5% of the capacity, which is significantly less than the individual offers of MSC (11%) and CMA CGM (10.8%).
Alliances do not have a clear advantage today. The top three stand alone carriers (Maersk, MSC, CMA CGM) deploy a total of 42.5% of the Far East-Europe capacity, compared with 37.5% for the three main alliances (CKYH, GA, NWA), which regroup eleven carriers.
The capacity breakdown by individual carriers shows only three carriers boosting a share above 10%. The fourth one in the ranking, the Evergreen Group (which works outside the large alliances) has a market share of only 6.5%.
European and East Asian carriers are on a par, with 47.3% (4 European carriers) and 47% (14 East Asian carriers).
Maersk Line has more or less stagnated in terms of market share, although its capacity has grown by 14.8% per year. Meanwhile, MSC and CMA CGM shares have grown by 20% and 24.5% respectively.
CSCL share has stagnated despite the recent injection of VLCS on its FE-Europe services. Actually, the restructuring of important services during the past two years have reduced the number of ships it deploys, although they are bigger.
All ships above 8,500 TEU are employed on the FE-Europe route. The vast majority of the VLCS delivered over the past twelve months have joined the FE-Europe route. 133 of the 157 VLCS in service as at March 1, 2007 are deployed on the FE-Europe route. Of the 24 VLCS left on the FE-US route, ten are in the smallest category (7,500 TEU) and fourteen are just above 8,000 TEU.
There are 22 operating groups offering a total of 54 weekly full container loops on the Far East-Europe run (including FE-Med services), plus three loops from Europe to ANZ and returning via the Far East.
Together, these 57 loops offer a weekly capacity of 321,500 TEU on an annualised basis, according to figures produced by AXS-Alphaliner based on the capacity to be deployed in April-May 2007. This represents a 16.5% increase per annum over the past two years.
The strong euro is a factor in the booming Far East-Europe trade, and the weak US$ has kept a lid on Far East-US trade, since Asian exports have tended to proceed to Europe instead of the US. A projection to April-May 2008 shows that, roughly, 400,000 TEU of new ship capacity will have to be added within the space of twelve months in order to cope with this growth, which is enough to absorb some 25% of the capacity to be delivered by the shipyards.
Maersk Line provides the highest capacity on the Far East-Europe route, with 52,155 TEU slots weekly, representing 20.7% of the total capacity deployed. Maersk Line alone provides more slots than the four CKYH partners (COSCO, ‘K’ Line, Yang Ming, Hanjin-Senator), which provide 18% of the total capacity.
CKYH is followed by Grand Alliance (Hapag-Lloyd, NYK, OOCL, MISC), with 12%. It has suffered from the loss of P&O Nedlloyd (in which the Alliance had an 18% share).
New World Alliance (APL, MOL, Hyundai) provides 7.5% of the capacity, which is significantly less than the individual offers of MSC (11%) and CMA CGM (10.8%).
Alliances do not have a clear advantage today. The top three stand alone carriers (Maersk, MSC, CMA CGM) deploy a total of 42.5% of the Far East-Europe capacity, compared with 37.5% for the three main alliances (CKYH, GA, NWA), which regroup eleven carriers.
The capacity breakdown by individual carriers shows only three carriers boosting a share above 10%. The fourth one in the ranking, the Evergreen Group (which works outside the large alliances) has a market share of only 6.5%.
European and East Asian carriers are on a par, with 47.3% (4 European carriers) and 47% (14 East Asian carriers).
Maersk Line has more or less stagnated in terms of market share, although its capacity has grown by 14.8% per year. Meanwhile, MSC and CMA CGM shares have grown by 20% and 24.5% respectively.
CSCL share has stagnated despite the recent injection of VLCS on its FE-Europe services. Actually, the restructuring of important services during the past two years have reduced the number of ships it deploys, although they are bigger.
All ships above 8,500 TEU are employed on the FE-Europe route. The vast majority of the VLCS delivered over the past twelve months have joined the FE-Europe route. 133 of the 157 VLCS in service as at March 1, 2007 are deployed on the FE-Europe route. Of the 24 VLCS left on the FE-US route, ten are in the smallest category (7,500 TEU) and fourteen are just above 8,000 TEU.