Pain during shipping downturns is often self-inflicted by the industry itself. A scramble for market share spurs a rate spiral; too many ship orders compound the losses. Maersk CEO Vincent Clerc maintained on a May 4 conference call that liners are avoiding at least some of these self-inflicted wounds.
Clerc said ocean carriers are managing capacity fairly well, demand is primarily down due to temporary inventory overhangs, and margins remain higher than pre-COVID levels.
The general message from the world’s second-largest container line operator: Market normalization is proceeding as anticipated.
Read more in an article from American Shipper.