The principal carriers have clearly given priority to capacity upgrades on the Asia-North America trade in recent months. The 2M-partners Maersk and MSC have even shifted capacity from the Europe - Asia trade to the Transpacific, where they now offer 32.3% more slots than in November last year.
Available capacity on the Asia - America route remains at a historical high with an average weekly nominal capacity of 526,352 teu on 1 November, up 16.7% year-on-year. Average weekly nominal capacity between Asia and Europe stood at 392,349 teu, which is still 0.4% less than a year ago.
The COVID-19 pandemic which had a significant negative impact on cargo demand, has forced carriers to skip sailings and even temporarily susp whole services. Available weekly capacity reached a low six months ago in May when it stood at 396,494 teu on the Transpacific (-12.1% compared to November 2019) and at 339,871 teu for Asia - Europe (-13.7%). Whereas the rationalisation measures on both East West trades were similar immediately after the COVID-19 outbreak, the re-introduction of capacity in response to the recovery in cargo demand varies significantly. Current available capacity on the Transpacific is 32.7% higher compared to May, whereas the capacity increase on Asia - Europe was only 15.4% over the last six months.
Maersk and MSC have implemented by far the biggest capacity increases on the Transpacific. The two partners of the 2M Vessel Sharing Agreement have increased their weekly capacity by 64.7% since May. The actual increase for MSC is even higher as the Geneva based carrier also launched an additional Asia-WCNA ¡®Santana¡¯ service which remains outside the scope of the 2M VSA. The hefty capacity upgrade on Asia-North America came at the expense of the Asia - Europe route, where 2M has added only 8.4% of capacity since May. The current offering of Maersk and MSC between Asia and Europe is still down 4.2% compared to November last year. Both the OCEAN Alliance (+1.7%) and THE Alliance (+1.9%) have slightly increased their capacity on the Asia-Europa trade compared to November 2019.
The same comparison for the Transpacific shows a capacity increase of 4% for the OCEAN Alliance on a year-on-year basis, and of 31.1% for THE Alliance. The big capacity jump of THE Alliance cannot be compared to the Transpacific push of 2M as it is largely related to HMM joining THE Alliance on 1 April 2020. The Korean carrier was not a member of any alliance on 1 November 2019 and has increased its capacity on the two big East West trades by an amazing 158% since May as it took delivery of twelve 24,000 teu newbuildings and saw many 10,000 ¨C 13,000 teu ships redelivered which had previously been sub-tered to Maersk and MSC.
Market shares The 2M Transpacific offensive and HMM joining THE Alliance have brought some changes to the alliance market shares. 2M now controls 21% of all Asia - North America capacity (up from 19% a year ago) while THE Alliance saw its market share rise from 25% to 28%. This came at the expense of the OCEAN Alliance¡¯s market share, down from 38% to 34%. The 2M market share on Asia-Europe has fallen from 36 to 34% over the last twelve months, while THE Alliance saw its share grow from 26% to 27%. The OCEAN Alliance remains the largest grouping on this trade with a current market share of no less than 39%
¡°Extreme Conditions¡± at LA, NY Ports to be Scrutinized by FMC
The Federal Maritime Commission is expanding an existing investigation to determine if ocean carriers are employing illegal policies and practices related to detention and demurrage, container return, and container availability for U.S. export cargoes at the ports of Los Angeles/Long Beach and New York/New Jersey.
An FMC order said such policies and practices ¡°are having an unprecedented negative impact on congestion and amplifying bottlenecks at these ports and other points in the Nation¡¯s supply chain,¡± which presents ¡°a serious risk to the growth of the U.S. economy, job growth, and to our Nation¡¯s competitive position in the world.¡± Commissioner Rebecca Dye, who is leading the investigation, said the FMC¡¯s order emphasizes that she has ¡°all enforcement options¡± at her disposal to address the ¡°extreme conditions¡± that exist at these major
