Probably a good sign…
Industry sees recovery in container shipping
By DIEGO CAGAHASTIAN
March 25, 2010, 3:15pm
SINGAPORE – Leaders of the container shipping industry in Asia and the Pacific predicted Thursday a gradual recovery of their sector following the recent surge in raw material imports by the US and the European Union.Container shipping is still reeling under an overall industry loss of US$15 billion in 2009.
Hennie van Shoor, Director of Business Performance of Maersk Line Asia Pacific, told delegates of the three-day Asia Pacific Maritime 2010 at the Singapore Expo here that “recently, global trade volumes have picked up” with US imports increasing by 13 percent.
Van Shoor, however, pointed out that he only has guarded optimism on this development, because the global recession is not yet over and the improvement in container volume is just due to the US and Europe replenishing their stock inventories.
The Maersk executive delivered the keynote address at the opening here of the Asia Pacific Maritime 2010 organized by Reed Exhibitions. The event provides an opportunity for maritime industry players such as shipbuilders, manufacturers of maritime products such as pumps and air-conditioning systems, financiers, and freight forwarders to buy, sell, and generally promote their goods and services.
Countries represented are China, Denmark, France, Germany, Holland, Japan, Malaysia, Norway, Romania, South Korea, United Kingdom, and Singapore.
Van Shoor said in the case of Maersk, their approach to weathering the storm is to get back to basics such as prioritizing return on assets (“fill our ships with the most profitable cargo”), removing complexities by improving levels of operational and administrative costs, and simplifying processes.
“We should aim for less waste in the industry and reduced uncertainty,” van Shoor said.
Others on the panel agreed with him, among them high-level shipping executives Volkmar Wasmansdorff, executive vice president of Germanischer Lloyd; Bill Smart, managing director of Bengal Tiger Line, and Divay Goel, director and head of Asia operations of Drewry Maritime Services.
The forum was moderated by specialist shipping writer-editor David Hughes of the UK.