Container shipping is passing through its fifth volatile year advancing industry consolidation. Completion of the second lane in the Suez Canal last August and the expansion of the Panama Canal in 2016 will bring the deployment of mega-ships to the Atlantic Coast of North America. International trade deals such as the Trans Pacific Partnership and the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between Canada and the EU will sponsor trade growth and shift sourcing. Traditional supply chains are being reviewed for alternatives to hedge against regional periods of congestion. All of these factors will increase the complexity and risk management of supply chain construction for providers, buyers and sellers.
The future of containerization will be driven by analytics, technology and connectivity. Those enterprises that understand the new dynamics and meet the need will be successful.
Providing efficiency, value, partnership and infrastructure will be critical. In North America, infrastructure investments that allow ports to accommodate larger ships will increasingly pay off in 2016 and beyond. We also expect to see the emergence of a “hub and spoke” network that will see the evolution of big ship deep, water ports as collection and distribution points with intermodal and relay services playing an increasing role.