NVO Countdown – No. 2

   Welcome to the 11th installment of American Shipper’s yearlong countdown of the top 12 non-vessel-operating common carriers for U.S. inbound containerized cargo.
   Using data provided to American Shipper by the trade intelligence firm Zepol Corp., we’ll take a closer look at each of these companies in terms of where their cargo originates, where in the United States it’s destined, which liner carriers they use, and how their volumes have trended quarter to quarter.
   The series will count down monthly until we analyze the top U.S. inbound NVO in December. Data is derived from Zepol’s database, which uses U.S. Customs data direct from carrier bills of lading as they are entered in the Automated Manifest System.
   The top 12 U.S. inbound NVOs for this series were determined based on their total volume in 2011, though the statistics provided by Zepol will be updated monthly so that each NVO will be examined based on the most recent 12-month period – in this case, the period between Nov. 1, 2011 through Oct. 30, 2012.
   This month, we’ll examine Blue Anchor Line, the NVO subsidiary of global third party logistics company Kuehne + Nagel (K+N).
   Blue Anchor has handled 333,647 TEUs of U.S. inbound volume over the last 12 months. That’s roughly 5 percent higher than its 2011 calendar year volume.
   The fact that K+N is based in Europe is evident in the breakup of U.S. ports used for inbound shipments by Blue Anchor. While many of the top NVOs in our countdown rely overwhelmingly on transpacific volume, and especially volume through Southern California, Blue Anchor’s most heavily used port in the last 12 months was New York/New Jersey, while its third most used was Charleston. In that way, it is similar to the previously profiled Schenkerocean, DB Schenker’s NVO brand, and Danmar Lines, the NVO subsidiary of DHL.
   Blue Anchor moved 18.2 percent of its volume through New York/New Jersey, 15.8 percent through Los Angeles, 11.1 percent through Charleston, 10.9 percent through Long Beach, and 8.3 percent through Norfolk. Blue Anchor has among the most diversified port usage of any inbound NVO, with eight destination ports accounting individually for 5.8 percent or more of its volume.
   As for origin nations of U.S. inbound cargo, China accounts for less a third of Blue Anchor’s volume, a huge departure from most of the NVOs in this countdown, even relative to other European-centric NVOs. For instance, more than 40 percent of Danmar’s volume originated in China, while 36 percent of SCHENKERocean’s volume came from China. It’s fair to say that Blue Anchor is less dependent on China cargo than any other U.S. inbound NVO.
   Germany was the source of 18.3 percent of the company’s inbound volume. Rounding out the top five were Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Belgium, with three other European locations (Italy, the Netherlands, and the U.K.) following close behind. But there was a significant drop-off in volume after Germany.
   As for which container lines Blue Anchor uses most frequently, Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk Line are far and away the leaders. Hapag-Lloyd handled 17.2 percent of Blue Anchor’s inbound cargo in the last 12 months, while Maersk handled 14.8 percent. After that, the next eight most used carriers handled between 3.8 percent and 8.2 percent. Rounding out the top five were Evergreen Line, Mediterranean Shipping Co. and China Shipping.