Membership of 2M
Vincent Clerc, chief commercial officer at Maersk Line, the world’s largest container line, said on November 3that Hyundai Merchant Marine Co. (HMM) will join its global 2M shipping alliance fairly soon.
He said that HMM will help Switzerland-based shipper MSC, which is a partner company of Maersk, to secure more shippers and increase the volume of the alliance’s freight traffic. Clerc added, “We will let our customers know what we will be up to by the end of the year.”
HMM signed an agreement with Maersk and MSC in July to join the 2M alliance in order to reduce costs and improve the competitiveness. The company said that it would sign a formal agreement by November after negotiating on routes and cargo capacities. However, there has been concerns that the agreement can founder.
Clerc said that Maersk is not interested in acquiring containers owned by Hanjin Shipping, which is currently under court receivership, and it is enough to carry a cargo with its ships they have now and will be delivered later.
Meanwhile, CEO Soren Skou said in a phone interview with Bloomberg News that he’s willing to lose money in the short term in exchange for longer-term market dominance, hinting the competition in shipping costs. He said, “The industry is consolidating and in such a situation you have to make sure you keep growing so you don’t lose your market-leading advantage.”
Skou also said that the company saw its shipment volume rise 11 percent in the third quarter as Hanjin Shipping filed for receivership.
In regard to Maersk with a 15.5 percent share in the global market, DNB Markets forecast, “Maersk Line will continue to use the price to gain market share, saying, “The company is the ‘Saudi Arabia of the container market.’”