Shannon Brandao
From the article: "Mary Hui, Quartz [excerpt]: The global #shipping industry is in a decidedly gloomy mood.
Shipping #container rates have collapsed. #Logistics executives foresee a #freight recession dragging into 2024. Industry giant #Maersk plans to cut at least 10,000 jobs as it struggles with falling profits and revenue amid overcapacity, rising costs, and lower prices.
There is one bright spot, though: intra-#Asia shipping.
As #manufacturers seek to diversify their #supplychains by shifting certain production segments out of China, there’s been more demand for transporting raw materials and intermediate products within Asia.
In response, container ship operators are ratcheting up their Asia services. In the past few months, various companies have unveiled new shipping lines connecting Asian #ports.
In May, MSC, the world’s biggest ocean freight player, upgraded and expanded several of its Asian routes to increase direct connections between China and ports across Southeast Asia. Other shipping companies, including #Japan’s Ocean Network Express, #Singapore’s Pacific International Lines, #SouthKorea’s HMM, and China’s OOCL, followed suit with similar announcements.
'Countries like #Vietnam, #Bangladesh, #Cambodia have seen manufacturing coming in,' said Sunandan Ray, CEO of US-headquartered global logistics and freight forwarding company Unique Logistics. 'With that has come a fair bit of movement of raw materials into those countries, and there’s been intra-Asia #trade developing.'"
#news #business