Walmart, Amazon and Cargill among 24-member new shipper advisory group in the US
Some of the biggest shipper names in the world are on the newly formed National Shipper Advisory Committee created by the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) in the US, one of many measures American regulators and politicians are taking to try and tackle this year’s extreme supply chain crunch.
The committee is comprised of 24 members, evenly divided between those who export cargo from and those who import cargo to the US. It will advise the FMC on policies relating to the competitiveness, reliability, integrity, and fairness of the international ocean freight delivery system. Executives from the likes of Amazon, Ikea, Walmart, Cargill and Louis Dreyfus are on the advisory group.
“I and the other commissioners need rapid access to the perspectives of importers and exporters on the ground dealing with the realities of ocean shipping every day. We also need them to meet and help guide our efforts and those outside the FMC to improve the system and make it easier, fairer, and more efficient to American shippers,” said FMC chairman Daniel Maffei.
Interesting that near monopolies are bleating when their monopolies are threatened. They seem to be proposing socialist ideologies rather than capitalist ones.
I just concluded a 40 plus year working for large container carriers
The reason why the ocean carrier industry has so few players today is due to its historically low profit margins and extreme volatility.
These carriers have made meager
Returns on large capital outlays for the
Past 40 years . Where was the concern amongst these shippers and importers for the carriers when many
Carriers were operating at a break even – lose millions each quarter .
Without the risk taken by the carriers and without the large long term investment in ships and terminals – equipment – the business activity – importing – exporting
Over the world oceans by Walmart
Amazon – Cargill – Dreyfus would not exist
No one complained when rates were
Losers for the ocean carriers
Shippers raise their prices when their
Commodities become scarcer
From the carriers perspective
There are no additional available ships to charter – carriers have ordered record number of new large ships
Those ships and that capacity
Will probably get online around 2023
That’s when the space will again match the demand
For now – if an exporter or imported
Wants to trade – they need to pay what the prevailing market will bear
It’s called supply and demand –
capitalism
Correct. Cargill has been in the industry for rather a long time, even as a major charterer, and must know this.
Walmart and Amazon are just scalpers.