Vincent Clerc, Chief Trade and Marketing Officer for Maersk Line, has stated that although the shake-up of three of the main alliances will have an effect on beneficial cargo owners, there may be a silver lining for them in the long-term as it will depend on the network choices of each alliance, according to the Journal of Commerce.
Mr Clerc said: “The redesign of networks of the magnitude they are talking about will be disruptive for the customer in the short term because if a carrier moves from one alliance to another, both alliances need to redo their networks.
“Capacity will vary from week to week for a while and products will change and so on. But in the long run, it all depends on the network choices that each of the alliances makes, so it could be good.”
Despite this, Mr Clerc is positive that Maersk’s 2M alliance with MSC will be unaffected.
Technical Paper: Tackling the Biggest Alliances
He said: “The 2M is stable and will remain stable and will continue to work when the alliance shakeup is being discussed.
“It’s a sign that the industry is under a lot of pressure to find cost savings and synergies because the rates are under pressure.
“In an industry where scale benefits are an important component of production costs for a lot of lines, the incentive to pursue mergers and acquisitions has increased and you are seeing this play out now.”
