Major shifts in container shipping
'Uncertain whether Rotterdam port remains Europe's largest'
Rotterdam - The global container shipping industry is shaking up from February as shipping companies break alliances and new collaborations between container carriers are established. Transport flows will shift and that will also impact the port of Rotterdam. "We have yet to see whether Rotterdam will really benefit from its hub function," said port economist Bart Kuipers.

In global container shipping, the cards are being reshuffled, and that is certainly going to affect the major deep-sea ports. For major ports like Rotterdam and Antwerp, but also for smaller ones like the UK's Felixstowe, Suffolk, exciting times are ahead. "It remains to be seen which port may eventually call itself the largest container port," says Bart Kuipers, port economist at Erasmus University in Rotterdam.
In global container shipping dominated by just a few shipping companies, things are changing. The two largest container carriers, Denmark's Maersk and Switzerland's MSC, are ending their 2M Alliance from 1 February. Now they account for a combined global market share of 34.5%, according to maritime database Alphaliner.
Alliances
MSC which accounts for more than a fifth of global container shipping is moving ahead on its own. Maersk chooses cooperation with Germany's Hapag-Lloyd in the so-called Gemini Alliance. To do so, Hapag-Lloyd is leaving The Alliance with Japan's One, Korea's HMM and Chinese container carrier Yang Ming. The latter three will continue without the Germans under Premier Alliance.
In particular, the break-up of the alliance of Maersk and MSC is going to cause a shift. This is because the two container giants are both choosing completely opposite strategies. On the major container liner services between east and west, for instance, MSC actually wants to call at several ports. Maersk, which with Hapag-Lloyd is a fraction larger than MSC, is opting with the Gemini Alliance for a so-called hub-and-spoke model, where large ships call at precisely fewer ports. From those ports, the containers have to be redistributed to the rest of Europe.
Improve reliability
"Specifically, it means that on services from Asia in Europe, MSC calls at 13 ports and Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd's Gemini calls at five," explains Bart Kuipers. "Both aim with their strategy to improve the reliability of the sailing schedule. MSC expects to be more reliable when calling at multiple ports. Maersk assumes that with fewer ports, there will also be fewer delays."
Rating agency Morningstar DBRS states in an outlook on container shipping for this year that "large volume-driven ports with high hinterland demand" are going to benefit from the shifts. That would be good news for Rotterdam as a gateway to Europe. Gemini has already taken the first steps by removing Felixstowe and Antwerp from the major east-west trades.
However, Kuipers is critical, pointing out that domestic container hubs like the port in Nijmegen or the Maasterminal in Maastricht, are already complaining that it is difficult to get those huge container cargoes to the hinterland. If a container is in the Rotterdam port, it is not yet with the customer, the port economist wants to say. "The question is whether Rotterdam really benefits from Gemini's model and whether reliability ultimately increases. Congestion to the hinterland will not be reduced."
Battle Antwerp Rotterdam
The battle between Antwerp and Rotterdam for the predicate of Europe's largest container port is at least getting a lot more exciting. Antwerp-Bruges is already hot on Rotterdam's heels. The Belgian port's throughput grew by 8.1% to 13.5 million teu (standard 20-foot containers) by 2024. Rotterdam will come out with its figures for the past year on 21 February, but by mid-2024, throughput was 6.8 million teu.
On top of that, Antwerp is becoming a more important port for MSC. After all, the Swiss container shipping company already has its own container terminal there.
"But MSC will not leave Rotterdam," Kuipers knows. "In fact, MSC is working with terminal operator ECT in Rotterdam on the 'terminal of the future'. That is just a long way off, and the question is how the relationship between the European ports will be by then."
Source: The Telegraph