CP Ships ends multiple brand policy

CP Ships ends multiple brand policy    In a major reversal of its commercial policy, CP Ships said Thursday it will end its multiple brand strategy and stop using historical names such as Lykes, Canada Maritime and ANZDL later this year. Instead, the Gatwick, U.K.-based shipping group will use a single brand: CP Ships.
   Since 1993, CP Ships has acquired nine container shipping companies, seven of whose brands it still uses: ANZDL, Canada Maritime, Cast, Contship Containerlines, Italia Line, Lykes Lines and TMM Lines. The group had already eliminated the carrier names Ivaran and CCAL shortly after their takeovers.
   Retaining multiple brands helped CP Ships “maintain customer loyalty and build further on strong regional positions after each acquisition,” the company said.
   “Our aims, which we achieved, were not to lose any business when we acquired a new line and then make the business grow,” said Ray Miles, chairman of CP Ships. “But now that our acquisitions are fully integrated and will be on the same operational and financial systems later in the year, it is time to move on.”
   CP Ships also said its customers have told the group “they prefer us to simplify our business and trade under a single brand.”
   A project team has been established to steer the many aspects of the rebranding process that will take place over the remainder of the year. Alan Boylan, executive vice president, commercial at CP Ships, has overall responsibility for rebranding. As part of this, CP Ships is developing a new Web site for customers, investors and others, all from a single platform.
   The rebranding does not affect the group’s service schedules and trade lane coverage.
   After years when several carrier groups increasingly adopted a multiple-brand policy to maximize their overall market shares and retain a regional image in local markets, the CP Ships’ U-turn is the biggest move away from this policy in the container shipping industry. Last year, Hamburg Sud also reduced the number of its carrier brands when it dropped the Columbus Lines and Crowley American Transport names to use the Hamburg Sud brand instead.
   The major groups Maersk Sealand/Safmarine/Portlink, Evergreen/Lloyd Triestino/Hatsu, CSAV/Norasia/Montemar/Libra, Zim/Gold Star/Niver Lines, CMA CGM/ANL/MacAndrews and Hanjin/Senator are the main remaining proponents of the multiple-brand policy in liner shipping. The multiple-brand groups were also the most active in the wave of takeovers that swept the carrier industry in the mid-to-late 1990s.