Increased Competition Emerges Beyond the Three Major Alliances

Increased Competition Emerges Beyond the Three Major Alliances

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, major global carriers have ceased their operations to and from Russian ports like Saint Petersburg and Novorossiysk. This situation has opened up opportunities for new entrants with affiliations to Russia, China, the Middle East, or Turkey. Despite operating smaller vessels, carriers like New New Shipping, OVP Shipping, Safetrans, FESCO, Akkon, and CStar have collectively doubled their deployed capacity from 154,600 TEU to 308,300 TEU within a year. The market share of these non-alliance carriers has now reached nearly 5%, inclusive of the 1.2% share held by the rapidly expanding ZIM. Another noteworthy growing player is SeaLead Shipping, which has achieved a 1% market share by expanding its Asia-Med fleet by 40.6% year-on-year to 61,400 TEU. Considering that alliance members also operate 344,000 TEU independently on ad-hoc sailings or standalone services, the combined market share of 2M, Ocean Alliance, and THE Alliance has decreased to 89.7%, down from 95.6% a year ago.