Blanking challenge for Asia-Europe shippers

© Khunaspix Dreamstime.

Although the four east-west alliances have already taken out some 47,000 weekly slots from Asia to North Europe by each suspending one string, the market continues to suffer from demand weakness and overcapacity, evidenced by the announcement today from the G6 Alliance that it will void a further four weekly sailings in October.

The embattled carriers serving the route have announced another round of general rate increases from 1 September of around $1,000 per teu, but unless the fundamentals improve, any brief gain from the GRI will suffer the same fate as those already this year and be discounted back within the first two weeks.