The end of the liner shipping block exemption came at a difficult time for the industry, making it difficult to directly compare the situation before and after the repeal. But there are some positive trends likely to continue into 2010.
Carriers are starting to become more interested in at least being seen to offer higher levels of service rather than merely competing on price. This represents just a glimmer of hope: At the moment, there is more talk than action as far has having carriers changing their approach and commitment to service quality. The sector still largely behaves as a commodity, driven by supply of capacity and market to produce short-term wins on volumes and rates.
We hope carriers will start to develop new business models and take the initiative to develop service standards so there is a better link between price and service and carriers focus on service as a competitive tool. A focus on yields instead of increased market share, seen by many as a prerequisite for a return to sound business models, is still not in the mind-set of carriers.
Shippers are under the same financial pressures as carriers, a fact sometimes ignored. In this time it becomes the more important to better communicate in order to better understand each others’ needs, and in particular those needs of the end-customer.
The liner shipping sector is in transition: there are glimmers of hope from a shipper’s perspective, that this crisis will have a silver lining. But there still is a long way to go. We need to see less talk of change and more evidence of change. And state support represents a worrying development if it prevents carriers from making all-important changes to their business models in order to adjust to new economic circumstances.