An endless series of crises roiling ocean shipping in the post-COVID 19 era is resulting in a change in \u201ccarrier DNA.\u201d\u00a0So said a panel of experts at S&P Global\u2019s\u00a0TPM 2025 conference\u00a0in Long Beach, California.<\/p>\n
Panelists said container lines today are undergoing a radical shift in their basic assumptions about how to service the oceangoing trades. For decades, they concentrated on securing freight and market share for their ever-larger ships, even if that meant slashing rates well below profitable levels. Now, there\u2019s a \u201ctop-down boardroom mindset that \u2018We can make money,\u2019\u201d said Bob Fredman, principal with logistics consultancy\u00a0SF Global Insights, LLC.<\/p>\n
Carriers are focusing now \u201con yield management, bottom-line cost containment and deployment of tools within their organization that they didn\u2019t think of before,\u201d Fredman said. That includes stricter enforcement of space allocations to shippers under annual service contracts.<\/p>\n
Stephanie Loomis, an ocean product and logistics professional, said carriers are especially exercising greater oversight of non-vessel operating common carriers, who consolidate the business of multiple smaller shippers into one contract. \u201cCarriers are much more in tune with how NVOs are doing business,\u201d she said, including forcing them to tender a certain portion of their freight under higher spot rates.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt used to be not uncommon to see an importer who moved 1,000 TEUs capture a named-account rate close to what a large BCO would be paying,\u201d Loomis said. \u201cThose days are gone, absolutely gone.\u201d<\/p>\n