By Alexander Whiteman (The Loadstar) – Carriers are themselves driving the charges ‘race to the underside’ they warned would result in a “dire state of affairs” in 2024 – Maersk singled out as one of many worst offenders.
Asserting the group’s third-quarter flop final week, the Danish provider’s CEO, Vincent Clerc, instructed traders that with out an uptick on the spot market within the closing three months, the approaching yr would show troublesome for ocean delivery.
His feedback, although, obtained sharp shrift from the broader provide chain, with Rhenus’s head of ocean freight for the Americas, Stephanie Loomis, describing them as “comical”.
She famous on social media: “I discover it comical that Clerc is warning of a ‘dire’ state of affairs if fee ranges didn’t enhance earlier than the tip of the yr. These under-market Maersk affords preserve ‘displaying up’ in co-loaders’ fee sheets, week after week.
“Perhaps they [Maersk] ought to cease undercutting this already insanely low spot market; somebody over there would possibly wish to get up.”
Knowledge for the second week of November, made accessible to The Loadstar, signifies Maersk providing charges of circa-$500 per teu and $800 per feu, in opposition to averages for the week of $600 and $950 on Ningbo-Hamburg routings.
Requested to reply to claims Maersk is itself taking part in driving the race to the underside, a spokesperson instructed The Loadstar the provider “had nothing so as to add”.
However Maersk will not be the one provider behaving like this: sources declare “they’re all at it”. And one forwarding supply, linked to a provider, described the crash in spot charges because the liners’ “personal doing”, as they had been accepting charges foisted on them by forwarders.
The supply instructed The Loadstar: “Forwarders should not all the time appearing responsibly, nevertheless it’s the carriers that conform to the speed stage; all of them have the selection to say no.
“In a downturn market like we now have now, with forwarders competing in buyer tenders, we very often submit charges we don’t even have from carriers. We submit a fee we consider we are able to obtain after which, if profitable, we go to all carriers and ask for the speed ranges we’d like. Typically, at the least one provider will agree.”
The supply famous that forwarders had solely been capable of behave like this as a result of the carriers had been “all combating for a similar volumes”, which might not have been doable over the previous three years.
Wanting forward, nevertheless, “the carriers are going through a really powerful 12-18 months forward, as are the forwarders”.
The supply added: “There are nonetheless many new vessels that may come subsequent yr, so there’s nonetheless much more tonnage that may enter the market. I attended senior conferences in 2022 with all of the carriers and this was a key dialogue level.
“Everybody has identified this challenge would are available 2023/2024.”
(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2023.
