European carriers dominate the South America trades between Europe and ECSA & WCSA, according to industry analysts Alphaliner.
The trades between Europe and the two coasts of South America are largely controlled by four European carriers. MSC, Maersk, CMA CGM and Hapag-Lloyd together operate 93.3% of all capacity, based on April figures.
COSCO SHIPPING and Ocean Network Express (ONE) are the only Asian carriers trading between Europe and the East and West Coasts of South America, with a joint market share of 6.2%. This leaves only 0.5% for two niche carriers.
A total of 99 container ships were trading between Europe and ECSA & WCSA in April, representing a total capacity of 710,530 teu or 2.1% of the total cellular container fleet.
The Europe – ECSA trade was host to 49 ships with a total capacity of 369,573 teu. This was slightly larger than the Europe – WCSA trade with 50 ships totalling 340,957 teu. The average size of the ships trading to the East Coast is 7,542 teu. This compares to 6,819 teu for the West Coast.
MSC is now the market leader on both routes. Its market share by capacity deployed between Europe and ECSA stands at 34.8%. The Geneva-based carrier increased its capacity 4.1% year-on-year.
This was enough to take over the number one position from Maersk. The Danish shipping line reduced its capacity by 13.0% y-o-y by shifting a series of 10,589 teu ‘Cap San-class’ ships to the Asia – Latin America trade in a swap with ‘L-class’ ships of 8,850 teu, which are now deployed in the Europe – ECSA ‘Samba’ service.
Despite this vessel swap, Maersk still has a strong market position with a 31.9% share.
Source: Alphaliner
