While the world's second largest container shipping company, Mediterranean Shipping, has acquired and ordered a large number of container ships, Maersk has also begun a ship purchase plan based on its own route needs. In addition, Maersk, which is transforming into an integrated container logistics service provider, is also preparing to expand its air transport industry.
Maersk began to buy ships
Since the second half of last year, MSC has been very active in the second-hand market. It has purchased 49 ships since August last year. At the same time, the company is also very busy in the chartering market and very active in the newbuilding market.
Not long ago, MSC's fleet exceeded the milestone of 4 million TEU for the first time. Alphaliner, a shipping consulting company, pointed out that since the beginning of this year alone, MSC's fleet has grown by 4%.
If you include the new ships ordered, MSC actually surpassed Maersk a few months ago to become the world's largest liner company. Even if it only counts the ships currently launched, MSC will soon win the crown. Alphaliner said: "This ranking change may even happen before the end of this year, because MSC will deliver another four 23,656 TEU'huge' new ships in the next few months.
Recently, due to the comprehensive impact of the epidemic, the container shipping market has experienced a serious shortage of space and container shortages.
Under such circumstances, various container shipping companies and even freight forwarders and cargo owners have begun to lock in container ship capacity through lease or purchase.
Under such circumstances, there are rumors that Maersk has also begun to buy ships. It is reported that Maersk recently purchased 3 Panamax container ships in the second-hand ship market. The three ships were built in 2006, Frisia Goteborg 2,824-teu and Frisia Oslo and Frisia Amsterdam built in 2007. The package price of the three ships is US$67.5 million.
According to other sources, Maersk also purchased the 3646TEU Hansa America wheel built in 2007 from the German company Leonhardt & Blumberg for approximately US$30 million.
Clarkson said that there are very few ships available on the market at present, and end users need to go through very fierce competition to buy their favorite ships. The shipowner is in a very advantageous position and can choose to sell the ship or lease the ship for a very long period of time at a very high rental price.
Maersk will also expand the size of its aircraft fleet
From 2016, Maersk began to transform and is committed to becoming a container integrated logistics service provider. In order to better meet the various logistics service needs of customers, Maersk is seeking to expand the scope of its logistics service products through its cargo airline Star Air.
Star Air was founded in 1987 as a subsidiary of the Maersk Group. It is headquartered at Copenhagen Airport and has approximately 200 employees.
To implement the plan, Star Air recently appointed Peter Corfitsen as its new chief executive officer. He succeeded Søren Graversen, who has been in charge of the company for 13 years, on May 1. ).
Corfitsen said that the previous Star Air mainly served two major Maersk customers, and it can be said that it has been unknown. But as Maersk began to pursue an expansion strategy in the logistics field, providing customers with new logistics solutions, including not only sea and land, but also aviation, has become the focus of our attention.
To this end, Star Air will serve as the operating department and begin to provide air freight services to other customers in need. However, Corfitsen does not have many customers who want to use air cargo services to give accurate target numbers, but he mentioned that the company has already had a dialogue with some customers who need both sea and air transportation.
Star Air currently operates 15 aircraft, 12 of which serve UPS and the rest serve DHL. Corfitsen explained that Star Air must expand its capacity if it wants to provide Maersk's customers with a more pillar of air transportation services.
He said, "Our current capacity is completely used for UPS and DHL and cannot be extended to any other purpose. This means that when we have to start to meet the needs of Maersk customers, we will need more capacity." "I No clear numbers can be given, but we may add one more aircraft, or two. Then, we will see how the demand evolves."
Aviation business of shipping company
In fact, as the traditional container shipping companies begin to transform and extend to the upstream and downstream of the container supply chain, the demand for the air transportation market has gradually emerged.
At the beginning of 2021, CMA CGM, another top container shipping company in the world, also officially entered the air cargo market. The company established a department called CMA CGM Air Cargo. The initial plan included the purchase of four freighters and outsourcing of the business to an unnamed European airline.
Corfitsen said, “Compared with other shipping companies’ air services, the advantage of choosing Star Air is that as Maersk’s own company, we have complete control over our operations, just as we own or lease our own capacity. When you choose to When buying services elsewhere, you rely on other suppliers."
Corfitsen added that the desire to expand Maersk's transportation business is not only a strategic need, but it also makes sense to enter this market when the market is strong. During the new crown pneumonia pandemic, we saw the same dynamics in the aviation sector as container transportation. It can be said that this is a white-hot market.
Corfitsen said that it is difficult to say how long this strong market will last, but he pointed out that the market has generally strengthened, and this momentum will continue for several years.