'Shipping lines have been victorious in raising rates this year because they have exercised discipline,' said Jee Heon Seok, an analyst at NH Investment & Securities Co. in Seoul. 'They're reaping the benefits of working together and that could mean annual profits.'
Container lines may have learnt their lesson after losing at least $6 billion last year in price wars.
Average rates from China have jumped 36 percent this year, the fastest increase since the China Containerized Freight Index was established in 1998, according to HSBC Holdings Plc, as lines focus on earnings rather than market share. That change has caused companies including Maersk Line, CMA CGM and Mediterranean Shipping Co., the world’s three biggest, to slow ships and pool vessels with rivals to pare overcapacity.
The new-found cooperation and capacity restraint means average global container rates will rise 9.8 percent this year after dropping 16 percent in 2011, according to Nomura Holdings Inc. It may also let lines sustain peak-season surcharges after 2011’s levies failed to stick amid competition for market share.
The rising outlook has prompted analysts to raise earnings estimates
for container-shipping lines even after fuel prices averaged about 20
percent higher so far this year in Singapore trading than a year
earlier.
