Has container shipping become a commodity?

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A depressing article about the state of the container carrier business. And one which will chime somewhat with the experience of those in the highly fragmented air freight business. SupplyChainBrain points out that the original flush of excitement, the dream of intermodalism and the benefits of containerisation, have steadily been chipped away over the years. Now there is little left for carriers but big, slow ships, no service differentiation – and commoditisation. Only the forwarders can offer the semblance of a door-to-door service, while shipping lines, plagued with overcapacity and having pared back their business to port-to-port only, now (according to K+N’s Karl Gernandt) merely subsidise shippers “to the tune of $10bn” – not a sustainable system.
An interesting read for players in all modes of transport.