Asia/Pacific News
Ocean Alliance "Unlikely" to Impact Singapore Players
The recently announced carrier alliance of CMA CGM, COSCO Container Lines, Evergreen Line, and OOCL, to be known as "Ocean Alliance," is "unlikely" to impact bunker and maritime players in Singapore.
As already reported in these pages, CMA CGM is in the process of buying Singapore's Neptune Orient Lines (NOL), but this, and the fact that the new alliance will have a nearly 35 percent share on Asia-Europe services, will not impact the city state.
According to HSBC Global Research, two hub ports in the Strait of Malacca, Singapore, and Westports in Malaysia, are expected to be maintained.
This will also be good news for bunker suppliers, with Ship & Bunker analysis from earlier this year having already shown that over the last decade, sales volume in the world's biggest bunker market has been a function of vessel calls, rather than changes in stem size.
