Early notifications were received in March that all carriers would increase rates by USD 500 per TEU from 1st April. Although not to this level, increases have now been implemented and all customers have been informed separately.

To combat the long term effect of oversupply in capacity, which is likely to continue for the short term, the carriers are looking at options to use their resources best for the future stability of the market. A new consortium called P3 is getting final approval, which will merge the services of the three largest carriers, Maersk Line, CMA-CGM and MSC. This new network will be the biggest, and will combine the volumes of all three in an attempt to balance the ‘capacity to demand’ more closely.

Currently, there are two other consortia, G6 and CKYHE, between them they combine the services of eleven carriers.

All three networks use vessel sharing agreements, therefore essentially offering just three main services between a total of fourteen companies. This leaves just two other carriers who are operating independently on this trade lane.

Overall the choice of vessels options will be reduced as a consequence, however the full impact of this will not necessarily be known until July / August, when all three networks are expected to be operational.

We are confident that any amalgamation of routes will not directly affect the overall service or transit time for customers.