Ingvar Bergman wonders whether the alliance will level the supply/demand situation on the Asia-Europe tradelane
Sir,
Regarding the P3 Alliance: finally a move towards stability in the rates – or at least one can hope so, although the 42/34/24 per cent split in tonnage distribution among the lines does not spell it.
Will this alliance have any levelling effect on supply/demand situation in Asia-Europe trade? The final agreement is almost a year ahead and must be approved by authorities, but hopefully it will receive the green light.
Is this the first move to be followed by other re-groupings in the east-west trades? Will the Japanese carriers ‘wipe off’ their extensive study some years ago to merge the three lines into one entity, to meet the competition from P3?
Maybe it’s time to ‘wipe off’ my idea of establishing a Euro/Asia containerline through other possible mergers to bring the situation in Asia – Europe trade another step forward (and ahead of P3 –alliance) by a merger rather than an alliance?
We can surely look forward to an interesting development for the next 10-12 months.
Ingvar Bergman,
Senior Advisor Shipping, Ethnic Food Solutions, Sweden