News / MSC and Maersk unwind transatlantic fleets as rates hit new low

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The unravelling of MSC and Maersk’s 2M vessel-sharing alliance (VSA) fleet is continuing ahead of the termination of the east-west trades cooperation, slated for early 2025.

Alphaliner said today the 2M partners were “increasingly moving away from services run with a mixed fleet of vessels”.

The consultant said the embattled transatlantic tradelane was the latest 2M route to be split into services operated individually by the partners, thereby making the dissolution of the alliance smoother, and allowing the VSA to be ended by mutual consent earlier than planned.

“After untangling the fleets deployed on the Asia-Europe route, the VSA partners recently did the same for their three transatlantic services that link North Europe and the US east coast,” said Alphaliner.

Of the 2M’s three North Europe to US east coast loops, the final piece of the transatlantic decoupling jigsaw came last week when Maersk’s 7,000 teu Northern Majestic was phased out of the TA3/NEUATL3 loop, which it said was now “fully staffed with MSC ships”.

The other 2M North Europe to US east coast loops already feature separate tonnage: the TA1/NEUATL1, deploying US-flagged ships operated by Maersk; and the TA2/NEUATL2, which also has Maersk as the sole vessel provider.

Alphaliner said the Mediterranean to US Gulf TA6/Medgulf loop remains the only 2M transatlantic service to operate with a mixed fleet, of five MSC 7,470-9,580 teu ships and four Maersk-provided 6,540-7,250 teu vessels.

Meanwhile, all the ocean carriers serving the transatlantic are under huge pressure from the impact of poor vessel utilisation levels and the resulting sub-economic rates.

An analysis by freight rate benchmarking firm Xeneta, as part of its regular tradelane carbon emission carrier ranking (CEI) report, found transatlantic headhaul vessel utilisation levels had declined to 69.1% in the third quarter, with load factors not rising above 71% in either Q1 or Q2.

Indeed, the oversupply of capacity on the route has been the main driver for the collapse of rates, with Xeneta’s XSI spot average for North Europe to the US east coast down to $1,300 per 40ft – the lowest level ever recorded by the XSI and which compares with more than $8,000 per 40ft 18 months ago.

“Carriers have, seemingly, chosen North Europe to the US coast route as a parking lot for ships they have removed from other major trades in an attempt to reduce supply and increase rates,” said Xeneta.

“These ships have not been deployed on the trade to meet demand, quite the opposite; the demand is not there so it is inevitable that utilisation levels will suffer dramatically,” it added.

“The question now is how long will carriers continue to sacrifice profitability on this trade?” said Xeneta.

Meanwhile, The Loadstar understands that radical alliance network changes are afoot on the transatlantic and Asia-Europe routes that will be announced before the normal April adjustments.