Maritime transport: the companies under attack from all sides

In the United States, the European companies CMA CGM, Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd are in the collimator of parliamentarians. In a letter dated 2 March, the US Congressional Control and Reform Commission invites them to justify their tariff policy, including overburdens, and to explain the reasons for their dramatic benefits. They were asked to address the following three main concerns:

• theunallocated transport capacityfor the period from 9 September 2021 to 1 February 2022,
• the reasons why revenues generated on the trans-Pacific market far exceed their operating costs,
• the measures envisaged forlower tariffs, including charges and surcharges, for the coming year.

The three companies had just presented their results for the year 2021 with a percentage increase at the top of the wave:

• CMA CGM, world number 3 in the sector:net income of $17.9 billionagainst 1.7 in 2020,
• Maersk:18,1 billions of dollars, six times higher than in 2020,
• Hapag Lloyd: net profit of$10.8 billionagainst 1.02 in 2020.

For all, performance is mainly due to freight rates, as volumes have not increased.

For Washington, this increase in costs has been reflected throughout the supply chain, fuelling inflation and impacting businesses and consumers.

In Europe (cf.Maritime transport: disorganisation weakens European SMEs), the grunts of shippers and freight forwarders swollen, they feel that they are being taken hostage. In mid-February, the European Association of Transport Commissioners (CLECAT) asked the European Union for an investigation to verify that there was no agreement between the companies and that competition rules were respected.

To go further...

• Sales Administration (SDA) Subcontracting Export
• Import/export flow management (air & maritime)
• Diagnosis of international logistics flows

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