2023 is uncertain! Maersk suspends another US airline service

Affected by the global economic downturn and weak market demand, the profits of major liner companies in Q4 fell sharply in 2022.MaerskShipping companyThe freight volume in the fourth quarter of last year decreased by 14% compared with the same period in 2021.This is the worst performance of all carriers who have released financial reports so far.Therefore, the Trans-Pacific TP20 Pendulum service will be suspended until further notice.

Shipping companies to alleviate the impact of extremely weak demand after the Lunar New Year holiday, curbContainerThe Voyage cancellation strategy adopted because of the drop in spot freight rates has obviously not been successful.

Shipping companies are now having to consider suspending services from Asian routes with weak demand, the future looks uncertain and shows no signs of improvement, and sailing becomes uneconomical.

In fact, before Maersk announced that it would "suspend" its independent TP20 trans-Pacific swing route service "until further notice", it announced in September last year that its 4447TEU "Mercur Islands" served TP28 swing route "." On October 13, 2022, the last Voyage was implemented in Toudun Port, Vietnam, and then the loop will be merged into Maersk's TP20 swing route, and the calling order will be changed to: Jakarta-Toudun

The company also said at the time: "We remain committed to shipping all goods contracted with Maersk through the Maersk Spot and Twill channels.Once demand picks up, we will restore capacity. "

The spate of Maersk suspensions suggests that trans-Pacific carriers are making fewer bookings at North American ports along the Pacific and Atlantic coasts.

The TP20 Pendulum service is Maersk's weekly service, which began in June 2021 at the peak of demand, targeting the lucrative premium market.When it opened, the loop was linked to Touton Port in Vietnam, Ningbo Port and Shanghai Port in China, and Norfolk Port and Baltimore Port on the east coast of the United States.It passes through the Panama Canal and mainly deploys Panamanian ships with a capacity of 4,500 TEU.

In addition, due toIn the second half of 2022, demand was weak and freight rates fell. 2M's TP3/SEQUOIA loop, Meisen's CCX route and CU Lines' TPX route were suspended, including CMA CGM's direct western route.Golden Gate Bridge "(GGB) service.

In addition, on February 16th, Maersk announced that in order to better cope with demand fluctuations, TP2 Asia-North America route will implement air navigation.The ship will go to Yantian for loading and connect with TP2 MSC Aries without affecting delivery.309N.

Jefferies, a world-renowned investment bank, analyzed that the market value of most liner companies is in a state of loss at present.Jefferies called on operators to adopt a "significant supply response" to adjust the market size appropriately.
Analysts at Sea-Intelligence, a Danish maritime consultancy, believe that the news that Maersk and MSC will lift the 2M alliance will increase the competitive pressure of global liner ships.Therefore, the risk of protracted price war in 2023 will increase.One sign is that with the cost of shippingContinue to slideCarriers still haven't seen positive performance from the outage after the Spring Festival.

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