REPORT: THREE CARRIER GROUPS CONTROL 58% OF ATLANTIC CONTAINER TRADE

REPORT: THREE CARRIER GROUPS CONTROL 58% OF ATLANTIC CONTAINER TRADE    Three carrier groups now control 58 percent of the total capacity in the transatlantic container trade, according to World Liner Supply, the latest quarterly report from the compairdata.com on-line shipping database.
   In July, the three largest groups of transatlantic carriers (Grand Alliance, Maersk Sealand and Canada Maritime/Cast/OOCL) controlled 44 percent of the total trade capacity. As of this month, the three biggest carrier groups (Grand Alliance/Lykes/TMM Lines, Maersk Sealand/New World Alliance/CMA CGM and Canada Maritime/Cast/OOCL) control 58 percent of vessel capacity on the transatlantic route, the fourth-quarter 2000 report from World Liner Supply said.
   Five weekly services operated jointly by the Grand Alliance, Lykes Lines and TMM Lines provide a total weekly one-way capacity of 15,438 TEUs, or 26 percent of the trade’s capacity. Grand Alliance carriers Hapag-Lloyd, NYK Line, Orient Overseas Container Line and P&O Nedlloyd merged their services with those of CP Ships-owned carriers Lykes Lines and TMM Lines earlier this month, creating the trade’s biggest carrier grouping..
   The second largest carrier group in the northern Europe/North America trade is Maersk Sealand/New World Alliance/CMA CGM. From this month, these carriers provide three joint weekly services, with a weekly one-way capacity of 12,351 TEUs, or 21 percent of the total capacity on this route. Maersk Sealand and New World Alliance carriers APL, Hyundai Merchant Marine and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines combined their transatlantic services this month.
   Canada Maritime, Cast and OOCL, with three northern Europe/Montreal services, are the third biggest carrier grouping in the Atlantic. They offer a weekly capacity of 6,838 TEUs, representing 11 percent of the trade’s total.
   Because Canada Maritime and Cast are sister companies of Lykes and TMM within CP Ships, while OOCL is affiliated with the Grand Alliance, those companies or groups are now involved in two of the three largest transatlantic carrier groupings.
   The total westbound capacity for all transatlantic liner services, as of this month, was calculated to be about 59,642 TEUs a week, or 3.1 million TEUs a year.
   World Liner Supply’s quarterly reports calculate up-to-date ship capacity of each alliance, carrier, service and trade route on the major trade lanes and are available at www.compairdata.com, the global liner shipping database on the Internet.