Smaller and mid-sized container shipping lines could become extinct, just like the dinosaurs, suggested South Korea’s minister of oceans and fisheries at today’s Danish Maritime Forum.
Yoo Kijune said the rush to order ever larger boxships had brought overtonnaging and made it hard for many to operate. The leading container companies will drive out small and mid-sized ones, he said.
Yoo was one of a number of shipping-related ministers speaking at the event. Denmark’s minister for business and growth, Troels Lund Poulsen had three main messages: to cooperate to ensure open markets and free trade; to ensure that the burdens we put on the maritime industry are not greater than the benefits; and to cooperate to ensure relevant global regulations and enforcement.
The latter point was picked up by Robert Goodwill, the British shipping minister, who said: “Radically different rules across the world rarely make sense.” Rival regulatory regimes create increased costs, he warned.
The Danish Maritime Forum continues through to tomorrow.
