News / Tradelanes: Oceania – limited choice for exporters as demand grows

ID 9837784 © Jesse Kunerth

Exporters in Australia and New Zealand have been left with limited ocean options as a result of liner consolidation, while air cargo trade with Asia continues to grow.  

Maersk today announced “temporary adjustments” to its Northern Star service, running between Asia and Oceania on Maersk Ningbo sailings in Julycalling at: Shanghai; Hong Kong; Brisbane; Auckland; Nelson; Timaru; Port Chalmers; Napier; and Tauranga. 

The Danish carrier explained that the changes were necessary “to accommodate upcoming operational requirements” on the vessel and “to ensure long-term service stability”. 

The southbound sailing from Shanghai on 6 July, will undergo an alternative rotation (details to follow, said Maersk), while the northbound sailing will be blanked, but Maersk assured that alternative coverage had been arranged through its Southern Star and J-Star services. 

A large NZ exporter told The Loadstar the “limited [carrier] options” often left NZ shippers with high rates and pressure when a tradelane saw increased demand or disruptions.  

“We are short of carriers after all the consolidation over the years. We really have Maersk, MSC, CMA CGM, Cosco/OOCL and ONE as deepsea options in and out of NZ – at least with any scale,” they said. 

“An example would be the swing of North American demand away from China at the moment, but we only have one service to the US west coast and two to the east coast.” 

According to Freightos, average freight rates from Melbourne and Auckland to Shanghai were just over $900 per teu, whereas Shanghai to Auckland or Melbourne averaged $1,490 per teu.  

Meanwhile in the air cargo sector, Igor Kwiatkowski, executive manager at Qantas Freight, told The Loadstar the Australian flag-carrier was continuing to see “strong demand”, with imports “primarily driven by ecommerce, as well as mechanical and electrical equipment.” 

For exports, Mr Kwiatkowski said: “Asia is driving the lion’s share of [Qantas-carried] exports, with high demand for Australian produce into Singapore, Thailand, and China”. 

Indeed, last week Qantas Freight announced a direct service between Sydney and Shanghai. The twice-weekly A330 service will commence on Thursday and marks the first time the airline has offered regular direct scheduled A330 freighter services between the global cities, “connecting two major commercial cargo ports”.   

In late May, Qantas Freight launched an extra weekly service from Bangkok via Shanghai to the US.  

Mr Kwiatkowski added: “Global freight demand to and from Asia continues to grow, and we’re launching this additional capacity to support our customers’ fast-moving critical cargo and ecommerce shipments from Bangkok and Shanghai. 

“The new Shanghai services will mean Qantas Freight will offer more direct freighter services between Australia and China than ever before, making it easier and more flexible for customers to book capacity to and from China’s busiest cargo port, along with more transhipment options to key US destinations.” 

He emphasised that the Shanghai schedules were timed to allow “more seamless connections” from Australian ports, “to provide more opportunities for Australian producers to export their goods via international freighter services”.