Reliance on transpacific hurts lines

Reliance on transpacific hurts lines    A survey of four carriers' operating results and volumes through the first three quarters of 2009 has found that those with the most exposure to the transpacific trade have suffered most this year, maritime news service Alphaliner said.
   The research showed that rates worsened from the second quarter to the third quarter for three of the four lines (APL, Hanjin Shipping and Hyundai Merchant Marine), with only Maersk Line showing improvement in rate recovery. This was despite reports that rate increases instituted by individual lines were indeed sticking during the third quarter.
   However, the defining characteristic for 2009 seems to be how reliant a line is on the transpacific, where rates dropped and have stayed low for most of the year. Conversely, on the Asia/Europe lane, rates plummeted, but then recovered by 78 percent since March.
   'The carriers with the largest relative exposure to the transpacific compared to the Asia/Europe market, in particular HMM, have been the worst hit in the third quarter,' Alphaliner said.
   In comparison, Maersk has a widely diversified network, with about 47 percent of its volume coming from trades other than the transpacific and Far East-Asia. APL, with 40 percent of its business coming from the relatively robust intra-Asia trade, has also been able to somewhat negate the impact of the lackluster transpacific. But Hanjin (47 percent) and HMM (44 percent) see nearly half their volume on the transpacific.
   All but Maersk has seen revenue slide quarter to quarter this year, while APL has been the most successful of the four in mitigating its losses per TEU carried. HMM, for instance, has seen losses per TEU rise each quarter, to $206 per TEU in the third quarter, compared to $119 per TEU for APL.
   Hyundai reported a third quarter loss of $307 million, its worst quarter ever, with $147 million of that amount coming from its container shipping division. The line said transpacific rates were 38 percent lower in the third quarter than in the corresponding quarter in 2008, offsetting any gains made in intra-Asia and Asia/Europe rates. For the year, the container line has lost $336 million on revenue of $2.6 billion.