As the use of formalized alliances and vessel-sharing agreements accelerates, carriers’ core product ― moving containers from Point A to Point B ― becomes increasingly identical across alliance partners in major trade lanes. In the Asia-U.S. East Coast trade lane, in particular, carriers have rationalized weekly port calls, and in turn reduced the number of unique ports called, hurting shippers’ breadth of transportation options.
As carriers reduce the number of services in the Asia-U.S. East Coast trade and enter into ever-more alliances and vessel-sharing agreements to maintain profitability, they are also reducing the uniqueness of port combinations they each service directly, according to SeaIntel’s latest Tradelane Capacity Outlook report, published last week.
