UNITED Arab Shipping Co (UASC) intends to stay away from the three mega alliances on the Asia-Europe and US trade lanes until they become more than "slot-swapping clubs".
If an alliance went beyond sharing space on vessels and did "what they should be doing", saving as many costs as possible, then UASC might have to become a member, said CEO Jorn Hinge.
For now he is non-committal, said Lloyd's List. "I don't know. Maybe we will, maybe we won't. As long as an alliance is just a slot-swapping club, it doesn't really make a difference if we are a member or not."
Mr Hinge believes that being an outsider has its advantages.
"Maybe there is a bit of flexibility by not being a member," he said. "Our salespeople say that shippers prefer to have an additional choice outside the alliances.
"We have more inquiries now from some of the big shippers because they can see there are three groupings, plus China Shipping and ourselves, which are somewhat independent.
"Some shippers prefer to distribute their eggs in more baskets than just three. From that angle, there should be benefits for not being a member."
The major advantage of the shipping alliances to the industry is that they enable carriers to adjust capacity to meet market conditions and share the cost of temporarily removing a service.
"If there is an alliance with seven or eight strings it is a lot easier to take one string out temporarily and still maintain the cargo you carry on the seven other strings," he said.
"Whereas, if you operate as an individual operator and you have two strings, you can't stop one and get the cargo on the other one. It's impossible."
WORLD SHIPPING
10 May 2014 - 03:01
UASC stays out of mega alliances, calls them 'slot-swapping clubs'
UNITED Arab Shipping Co (UASC) intends to stay away from the three mega alliances on the Asia-Europe and US trade lanes until they become more than "slot-swapping clubs".
WORLD SHIPPING
10 May 2014 - 03:01
UASC stays out of mega alliances, calls them 'slot-swapping clubs'
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