Light At The End Of The Tunnel

The global industry got some respite in the second half of the year with cargo volumes growing. Logistics players in India are expanding capacity to meet the rise in demand coming from increased economic activity.

- Omer Ahmed Siddiqui

The global maritime industry was surviving a prolonged dry spell when it welcomed the new year of 2017 with a rather sombre mood, but as the quarters passed by the market dynamics changed and the industry could finally get some sunshine. According to data revealed by Drewry, global box volumes continued to expand in Q3 2017 (July to September) and are projected to attain a growth of 5.5 per cent y-o-y in 2017. India particularly posted stellar performance with major ports posting a growth of 3.24 per cent, together handling 326.4 million tonnes of cargo during the period April to September 2017 as against 316.1 million tonnes handled during the corresponding period of previous year.

On the shipping side the consolidation binge continued with the most noteworthy being the Hamburg sud’s acquisition by Maersk. The deal is set to increase volumes of both Maersk Line and APM Terminals, while empowering the combined entity to control approximately 19 per cent of the world’s container fleet capacity.

Maersk continued to be in the spotlight for various reasons be it the Petya malware attack that jeopardised operations of APM Terminals or the digitalisation initiative. Maersk further entered into slot exchange and slot purchase agreements with MSC and HMM. Maersk Line and MSC took over a number of charters and operations of vessels currently chartered to HMM. The cyber-attack had cost about $300 million to the shipping line.

Digitalisation

This year saw the industry embrace digitalisation. Maersk Line made transactions completely “paperless.” Not to stay behind, CMA CGM inked seven year partnership with Infosys. The goal is to simplify and transform CMA CGM's IT applications and improve customer service excellence.

Coastal shipping