The outlook for the steamship container line business is similar to that in 2010 and 2011. Unfortunately, the irrational exuberance caused by some short-lived profitability earlier in 2011 may have slowed the steamship lines’ resolve to find lasting solutions to the two dominant problems of overcapacity and a continuing economic downturn. So now, steamship lines again will be looking for remedies that should have been prescribed and implemented in 2011.
Some industry leaders have stated that we need to look outward and be guided by companies that are highly innovative and give the customer what they want (sometimes before the customer knows what it wants). Many of these innovative companies lie in the technology sector. What is most evident about how technology companies go about producing their products and providing their services is that the process is essentially a joint venture. (As I look at my laptop computer, festooned with decals like a NASCAR stockcar, it proclaims that the software and chips of other technology companies are inside.) Technology companies look to their partners and vendors to provide the research and development, proficiency and insight into areas that would be impossible to achieve if they were to go it alone.
In 2012, the steamship lines will leverage the resources of others. The lines will give up functions that have traditionally been performed in-house. Senior management at the lines will instruct their staff to connect with vendors, potential vendors, industry partners and non-industry entities and listen to their ideas. I look forward to seeing the hull of a container line ship festooned with badges proclaiming the myriad companies involved in getting that ship across the sea. Hey, there’s an idea: Don Draper, sell ad space on the side of the ship (and the boxes too).