ONE will resurface as Maersk: According to an analysis made by Lars Jensen of the consultancy SEAIntelligence, ONE Line has just revised its outlook for earnings downwards from a positive of 110M USD to a negative of 600M USD for fiscal year 2018. No it’s just a very dramatic adjustment, but it also seems to bear a strong resemblance to the integration between Maersk and P & O Nedlloyd in 2006.
As argument ONE says the following: “The operations of receipt and documentation of the reservation were delayed because the staff of ONE was not completely familiar with the newly introduced IT system, and the staff had few functions. This caused significant inconveniences for the customers. ”
Comparing this with the following statement made by Maersk in its annual accounts for 2006: “Volumes did not meet expectations. Maersk Line lost market shares. This was mainly due to the difficulties related to the implementation of a series of integrated IT systems simultaneously with the integration of P & O Nedlloyd, including the fusion of the global service network ”
The current size of ONE’s fleet is 1.5 million TEUs and they project a loss of 600M USD. In 2006, Maersk Line had a fleet size of 1.6 million TEU and suffered a loss of 568M USD. The similarity is surprising. However, keep in mind that Maersk finally recovered and emerged stronger than ever; therefore, ONE’s current problems could also be temporary.
ONE indicates that the problems have been resolved, however other operators will have experienced volume growth greater than expected in 2018, taking advantage of ONE’s losses, which is totally normal. But similarly it means that if ONE is able to recover “their” volumes, it will have a negative impact on other operators in 2019.
