Latin American related trades will now become Maersk Line’s single largest tradelane, based on capacity deployed, following the completion last week of its takeover of Hamburg Süd, according to data from Alphaliner.
Fully 75% of the German carrier’s current capacity is deployed on Latin American-related trades.
Maersk and Hamburg Süd currently have a combined capacity share of 33% in Latin America, excluding the Mercosul capacity that will be divested to CMA CGM.
Maersk Line paid €3.70bn ($4.40bn) for Hamburg Süd in a deal that gives the combined entity some 4m slots.
Alphaliner went on in its latest weekly report to identify how Maersk’s exposure to the north-south trades is changing dramatically in the wake of taking on Hamburg Süd.
“Maersk’s reliance on North – South volumes is set to increase even further following the acquisition of Hamburg Süd,” Alphaliner stated.
The North – South trades accounted for 49% of Maersk’s total liftings of 5.26m teu in the third quarter of 2017. Factoring in Hamburg Süd, that figure is set to rise to 55%, compared to 31% on the east – west trades and 14% on the intra-regional trades.
With the main east-west tradelanes set for fierce competition and a large swathe of new capacity coming in over the next two years, Maersk’s shift to the north-south trades, viewed as strong growth prospects, can be seen as well timed.
