Top 20 Container Shipping Operators To November 30, 2018

RANK	CONTAINER SHIPPING OPERATORS	TOTAL CAPACITY (TEU)	TOTAL SHIPS
1	A.P. Moller–Maersk Group	4.055.184	710
2	Mediterranean Shipping Company S.A. (MSC)	3.303.762	512
3	China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company (COSCO)	2.785.963	468
4	CMA CGM Group	2.689.586	516
5	Hapag-Lloyd	1.610.846	222
6	ONE (Ocean Network Express)	1.525.550	218
7	Evergreen Line	1.181.356	201
8	Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp	631.305	97
9	PIL (Pacific Int. Line)	427.166	134
10	Huyndai M.M	421.239	72
11	Zim	315.220	64
12	Wan Hai Lines	257.334	96
13	IRISL Group	154.415	50
14	Antong Holdings (QASC)	140.325	115
15	Zhonggu Logistics Corp.	138.480	100
16	KMTC	130.869	63
17	X-Press Feeders Group	127.251	82
18	SITC	112.609	81
19	TS Line	85.404	38
20	SM Line Corp.	77.660	20

HMM to Take 50 Pct Stake in Busan Terminal

South Korean shipping company Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) is on track with its plans to acquire 50 ownership in the Hyundai Pusan New-Port Terminal that was sold off in 2016 as part of its restructuring.

HMM told World Maritime News that currently, Waska (SPC) holds 50% stake in the terminal, PSA 40%, and HMM 10%.

According to a regulatory filing, the company will acquire 126.9 billion shares worth KRW 126.9 billion (USD 112.7 million) in a private equity fund, tentatively named as Yuanta-HPNT, together with Korea Ocean Business Corporation (KOBC).

“In the near future, the private equity fund Yuanta-HPNT will acquire 100% stakes of Waska’s current stake (50% of PHPNT) and then it will re-distribute the stakes to ‘HMM+KOBC (80%)’ and PSA (20%),”the company spokesperson explained.

“Overall, ‘HMM+KOBC’ and PSA will jointly operate Hyundai Pusan New-Port Terminal with equally 50%, 50% stakes respectively.”

The company announced the plans earlier this year as part of its Blueprint for 2022, saying it aims to finalize the deal by the end of the year.

Under the strategy for next four years, HMM set a target of building up its capacity to 1 million TEUs and posting USD 10 billion in annual revenue by 2022. In line with the plan, HMM ordered twelve 23,000 TEU and eight 15,000 TEU eco-friendly mega vessels in preparation for the IMO’s sulfur regulations starting from 2022.

The newly ordered mega vessels are expected to deliver from 2020 in sequential order.

HMM, which earlier owned the entire stake in the container terminal, disposed of the major stake in the facility from 2014 to 2016.

In May 2018, HMM and terminal operator PSA International acquired 10 and 40 percent stake in the Busan terminal, respectively.

Following the transaction, the terminal was renamed to Korea Shipping Partnership Pusan Newport Terminal.

2M Partners Revamp Asia-Europe Networks

Targeting improved schedule reliability, A.P. Moller – Maersk has overhauled its services connecting Asia and Europe by cutting eight ports calls in the network.

The improvements are expected to result in prolonged, but competitive transit times, the company explained.

“To meet our customer’s increasing need for reliable cargo delivery, we have reviewed our service network and identified additional time to recover from the potential delays we continue to face from bad weather and other external factors” says Johan Sigsgaard, Head of Europe Trade, A.P. Moller – Maersk.

Maersk said that the enhancements build on the Asia-Europe network changes in May 2018 which enabled it to regain “a market leading position on schedule reliability.”

As disclosed, the changes include a net reduction of eight port calls in the network enabling “extra operational buffer time.”

Further, six extra vessels are added across the ten service strings in the network, with weekly deployed capacity remaining unchanged due to slower vessel speeds.

The integrated logistics company said that reductions were achieved with minimal impact to product offerings.

Maersk’s 2M Alliance partner Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), said in a separate release that it has also revised its ocean network between Asia and Europe.

“We can only assume that container terminal congestion at the main ports of the trade will continue to worsen, leading us to anticipate and incorporate longer time buffers in the schedule, in terms of port stays and speed at sea,” MSC said.

“MSC is therefore heavily investing in the East-West network to deliver a first-class product and ensure that we match, or even exceed, our customers’ expectations.”

Specifically, MSC will phase in additional vessels to existing loops on the trade.  The implementation of the new network is planned for early March 2019 and remains subject to further updates.

THE Alliance to Deploy Over 249 Ships in 2019

Members of THE Alliance, Hapag-Lloyd, Ocean Network Express, and Yang Ming have revamped their service network for 2019.

THE Alliance revealed that it would deploy a fleet of more than 249 ships connecting 76 ports throughout Asia, North Europe, the Mediterranean, North America, Canada, Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, Indian Subcontinent, the Middle East and Red Sea.

“The major enhancement of THE Alliance product includes a newly designed pendulum service, to replace Far East Europe 1 service (FE1), Pacific Southwest 1 service (PS1) and Pacific Southwest 2 service (PS2), and a new Pacific Northwest 4 service (PN4), offering a wider range of direct calls across North America West Coast, Europe and Asia,” the container alliance said.

 “Moving forward, a necessary capacity upgrade to the existing Asia-Europe network and overall optimized port-pair connections will be implemented to accommodate customers’ needs of greater reliability and stability in service quality.”

The new service network is subject to regulatory approvals.

Source: World Maritime News, Vietnam Shipping Gazzette