Container shipping industry: Corona virus pandemic is creating a new wave of blank sailings

As soon as the number of sailings from China canceled by container lines began to settle, container shipping was preparing another wave of influence for the Asia-Europe service as the Corona virus pandemic spread to Europe.

The number of canceled sailings increased from 2 to 45 on the main routes last week, according to Copenhagen-based consulting firm Sea-Intelligence.

The 2M alliance between the two container shipping companies Maersk and MSC is particularly active when the two companies temporarily withdraw AE2 / Swan and AE20 / Dragon services on the Asia-Europe service in the second quarter of 2020.

However, if the demand increases earlier than expected, they may also recover the service sooner. The withdrawal of these services is equivalent to reducing 21% of the capacity of this transport route.

After making a short notice as well as extending a longer period of time, this can be considered a reflection of a similar sharp decline in both ongoing and expected bookings. come from their customers. As a result, this week is expected to see a faster increase in the number of canceled trains from both other carriers as well as on other routes, said Alan Alan Murphy, CEO of Sea-Intelligence.

Moreover, quite a lot of sailings canceled from all alliances are made with a much shorter notice time than usual. This shows that the reduction in the number of bookings (booking) is happening very fast, the consultants estimate.

The impact of a virus outbreak in China is the cancellation of more than 100 trains. The spread of the pandemic to Europe and the Americas is considered to have an even greater impact.

In short, both shippers and carriers are entering a period of significant effort to handle exceptional situations.

When shippers see a sharp drop in demand for their cargo, leading to a smaller demand for shipping of containers, and therefore no other choice but to book far less than booking. original ant.

When carriers see such a sharp decline in booking activity, they have no choice but to cancel the sailings, Mr. Murphy Murphy added.

Canceled sailings will require a reorganization of the supply chain, and new arrangements are expected to be applied because market uncertainty persists.

Phaata (Source World Maritime News)

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