P&O NEDLLOYD CALLS PACIFIC “BEST TRADE TODAY” FOR CARRIERS

P&O NEDLLOYD CALLS PACIFIC “BEST TRADE TODAY” FOR CARRIERS

P&O NEDLLOYD CALLS PACIFIC “BEST TRADE TODAY” FOR CARRIERS

   Following last year’s rate increases, the booming transpacific container trade is the most profitable trade lane for shipping lines, a senior executive of P&O Nedlloyd said.
   Tim Harris, chief executive of P&O Nedlloyd, said that eastbound freight rates in the Pacific have shown a “NASA-like takeoff,” following last year’s $900 per 40-foot container rate increase.
   “The Pacific trade is the one that is the best today,” he added. Harris said that this development vindicates P&O Nedlloyd’s decision to first enter the Pacific trade a few years ago and then expand its presence.
   “The growth in the Pacific is paying off,” he added. By contrast, north/south trades were severely hit by decreases in freight rates last year.
   However, with a 3-percent market share in the transpacific last year, P&O Nedlloyd said that it did not benefit from this trade’s profitability improvement as much as other carriers.
   “The guys who are most exposed to the Pacific will make a lot of money this year,” he said.
   Harris said that the Grand Alliance, to which P&O Nedlloyd belongs, has “a good product” in the Pacific trade. There are currently no firm plan to expand the alliance’s services by launching new loops.
   Transpacific export volumes and freight rates have been weak, but this has been more than compensated by improved results in eastbound Pacific carryings, according to P&O Nedlloyd.