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Asia-Europe shippers should “brace themselves” for an extensive round of blanked sailings in the final weeks of the year, and a subsequent plunge in service integrity, as ocean carriers attempt to address “endemic overcapacity”, according to shipping analyst SeaIntel.

Voiding sailings in the slack season is not a new strategy for carriers, but SeaIntel expects “a large number” this year as the supply-demand ratio significantly worsens with the delivery of more ultra large container vessels (ULCVs) that can only be deployed ...

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  • Ricky Forman

    October 21, 2014 at 1:07 pm

    Shippers should “brace themselves” for the Nov+Dec capacity withdrawal but it should be noted they are not just the innocent victim in all of this. The carrier/shipper relationship is essentially non existent resulting in a tug of war of rates throughout the year. If contract rates were agreed at more realistic levels, Carriers wouldn’t have to take such drastic measures in the spot market to subsidise their short fall. Carriers actions of ordering new tonnage have further contributed to the issue, so its fair to say both parties are as bad as each other. Until the market/industry realises there is another way of doing business (via hedging rate risk) it will continue to waste each others valuable time and resources and nothing will change.