Comment / On the wires: The Lidl model? Seen it before; Hapag's show rolls on

Asia-Europe freight rates hover around historic highs, and there is every indication that, post-pandemic, carriers have a much better handle – largely through blank sailings – on how to control the wild swings of pricing that hitherto defined the deepsea container shipping market.

Pre-pandemic, the main east-west deepsea shipping trades were governed by economies of scale – the ultra large container vessel (ULCV) fleet operating Asia-North Europe services was constructed on the conviction that market share was gained through lower unit ...