MAERSK SEALAND CONSIDERS INDEPENDENT CUT IN TRANSPACIFIC CAPACITY

MAERSK SEALAND CONSIDERS INDEPENDENT CUT IN TRANSPACIFIC CAPACITY    Maersk Sealand is considering reducing its vessel capacity in the transpacific, but without participating in a collective capacity management program.
   Maersk Sealand has pulled out of preliminary discussions held by the Transpacific Stabilization Agreement, a discussion group of transpacific carriers, to introduce a joint capacity management program.
   “The TSA carriers have no agreement right now to rationalize capacity,” a spokesman for Maersk Sealand said.
   “We, as one line, are always free to make our decisions,” he added.
   The Danish company, as the largest carrier in the transpacific trade, is now considering its own plan to adjust capacity, particularly as the end of the peak season approches. Maersk Sealand is “very likely” to reduce capacity in the transpacific trade, the spokesman said.
   China Shipping Container Lines and CMA CGM, two carriers that cooperate in the transpacific, have already announced a reduction in the capacity of some of their joint services, independently of the Transpacific Stabilization Agreement.
   The independent move by Maersk Sealand on capacity rationalization and the cancelation of a crucial TSA meeting in China on Sept. 19 will be seen as blows to the carrier group’s attempts to manage capacity jointly in the over-tonnaged transpacific trade. However, other TSA carriers are still studying possibilities, a senior Asia carrier executive told American Shipper.
   Meanwhile, Maersk Sealand and other carriers of the Far Easterm Freight Conference are working on a capacity removal plan in the Asia/Europe trade that is due to start in October.