International shippers from Europe, Asia, and the United States have teamed up to ensure that free trade is not compromised, especially with the move by ocean carriers to join forces through mega-alliances.
The European Shippers’ Council (ESC) said in a recent statement that the newly formed Global Shippers’ Alliance (GSA) is looking at monitoring the activities of mega-alliances of container shipping lines on key trade lanes. The GSA is a cooperation entered into last month between the ESC, Asian Shippers’ Association (ASA), and American Association of Exporters and Importers (AAEI).
This as ESC expressed growing alarm that the trend to form mega-shipping alliances could eventually erode free-market rates, industry competition, and shippers’ choices.
“There are growing concerns among manufacturers, retailers and wholesalers about the long term threats of a concentrated container liner shipping industry through alliances,” said the ESC.
It added that it is increasingly worried that shippers will have less choice in shipping their products overseas with the cooperation pacts made by carriers.
To prevent this from happening, ESC is proposing to monitor the three main trading lanes used by manufacturers, retailers, and wholesalers in shipping goods overseas.
The monitoring will cover primary performance indicators such as spot rates, transit time, ports directly called, and blank sailings.
The ESC said the worldwide survey will be carried out in the coming years, “ideally by the newly formed GSA.”
To prepare for a more concentrated container liner market, Denis Choumert, chairman of the ESC, also stressed the need for shippers to collaborate on a worldwide scale and to promote cooperation between the main regulatory agencies.
“Although the current imbalance between capacity and demand gives the impression that alliances do not have a negative impact on the market, this might change rapidly when rates and surcharges increase as weaker players will be outcompeted in the race for ever bigger ships,” Choumert said.
Last month, on March 15, the ESC signed a memorandum of understanding with the ASA and the AAEI to form GSA. The global alliance aims to represent shippers’ interests worldwide and underlines their cooperation in the field of air freight, maritime transport, and trade facilitation.
“GSA intends to engage in constructive dialogue with national governments, supranational bodies, NGO’s, transport organizations and organizations of logistic service providers and strive for better cooperation so international trade can thrive, economies can grow and society can benefit,” said the ESC.
To be brought up by shippers are issues related to fair pricing of transport including surcharges in maritime and air transport, proper competition, security and customs regulations, standardization to facilitate data exchange, terminal-handling charges, and service levels in international transport.
Photo: Official U.S. Navy Page
