Shipping Capacity

The past few years have been hard for most industries and international shipping is no different. Carriers have been trying everything they can think of to get back on track including the recent freight rate increases, but the rules of supply and demand have proven true. The economy is just not in a position to demand supply. Most recently, the larger carriers have gone back to their old rates to focus on capacity issues. Many have begun charging surcharges for everything and there has been a lot of talk about
companies merging to stay afloat.

Since the economic problems are worldwide, the entire shipping industry has been affected. What is going to happen if shipping capacity does not increase? Just as in other industries, the weaker shipping companies are either merging with other companies or collapsing and going under. This includes NVOCC's as well as freight forwarders since they are both tied in to the ocean carriers. Even companies like
Maersk are focusing in different directions and working on other ventures to ride out the economic downturn. However this is not the case for most companies. Being such a large shipping company, Maersk has more avenues than the average carrier.

The shipping industry has always been bound together as a tight knit community. What ever happens as a result of the ever staggering economy, the shipping companies who survive will be the strongest and leanest companies we have ever seen.