News / As major lines move in on intra-Asia trades, regional carriers feel the pressure

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Increased competition and vessel cascading on intra-Asia trades has led to rock-bottom freight rates and plunging profits for regional carriers.

Charlie Chu, executive vice president of Thai-based intra-Asia specialist Regional Container Line (RCL), said freight rates were declining every year.

“Ship upsizing in intra-Asia trade is quite popular, same as other trades globally,” he told The Loadstar.

“The consolidation between large carriers through M&A and alliances means they can easily launch new services with bigger ships, using the combined volume of their feeders ...