News / Container lines tighten their grip on supply chains with barge-leasing move

Container lines are shaking up Europe’s waterways as they bypass barge operators to operate their own inland routes to service their demand for empties.

One source told The Loadstar two of the big five container lines, with unconfirmed rumours suggesting 2M partners Maersk and MSC, had already begun operations, with three trips over the past 10 days moving between 4,000 and 6,000 teu of empty containers.

The source said: “One out of every two containers moving from Europe to Asia is empty. Many ...