EMEA News
Unifeeder Recaptures Market Share As Low Rates Pressure Industry
Denmark-based Unifeeder has recaptured a large share of freight volumes despite deep-sea carriers having previously announced plans to insource the operations, Shippingwatch reports.
"We see a rise and fall tendency over time, where carriers make use of outsourced solutions by asking us to transport their containers, either because we have a larger scale or cover areas that they themselves cannot do in a competitive manner," said CEO Jesper Kristensen.
According to reports, Unifeeder saw container numbers rise compared to 2013, though its financial results were dampened by factors including low freight rates and and congestion in U.S. West Coast ports.
"Back in 2013, we saw that many players had insourced a relatively large portion of their freight volumes, as - for strategical reason perhaps - they had decided to cover the market with their own product all the way to the customer's doorstep," Kristensen said.
"But everyone's got a lot of focus on costs when the market is under pressure, and some may decide that they can do it cheaper by outsourcing feeder service."
In addition to eyeing Southern Europe as a growth area, Kristensen said that the company has also signed multiple vessel sharing agreements.
"Some players have seen the possibilities in connecting to our somewhat bigger scale and get some of the advantages that we can give them, so that they can avoid connecting to a network that may be ten percent of ours," he said.
The company said that it has expanded so that the Mediterranean now makes up a third of its business, with the remaining two-thirds coming from Northern Europe.
Early this year, it was predicted that Emission Control Area (ECA) regulations would hasten consolidation in Northern European short-sea and feeder markets.
