LL: MSC chief Soren Toft: ‘We have the scale and strength to stand alone’

Photo: Coast Guard Netherlands

Lloyd’s List reports:

“THIS is about us showcasing the strength of the Mediterranean Shipping Co network,” explained chief executive Soren Toft, as he set out the future structure of global container shipping alliances on Monday.

Having unveiled its new standalone east-west service network, a slot exchange co-operation with the new Premier Alliance of smaller rivals and a vessel-sharing agreement with Zim on the transpacific trade, Toft said that immediate plans for the world’s largest container carrier was to continue its dominant growth strategy and lead from the front with a standalone network.

By February next year, when Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd’s Gemini alliance begins operations and the 2M alliance is formally dissolved, MSC’s fleet size and market share are expected to equal the combined total of these two competitors.

In setting out its plans for a standalone network and its contingency plans in the event of a reopening of the Red Sea, MSC has set the agenda for a market facing significant changes next year.

“This is about the significance of the scale of our fleet and the breadth of the coverage that we can now offer on a standalone basis. It’s about MSC now having operational freedom, the flexibility, the agility, the speed of decision making to respond to changes in demand,” Toft told Lloyd’s List…

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