b'2American Journal of Transportation ajot.comTop containership carriers are bigger, leaner and more efficient The top containership carriers are bigger and more efficient but service disruptions show weaknesses in the industry.By George Lauriat, AJOTOcean carriers rarely makewouldnt solve the problem. front page news, but in recentNorwouldaddingships weeks the container businessandmorecontainers,which hasmadethenewsforrea- wouldonlyexacerbatethe sons the industry would rathertraffic jam in San Pedro Bay. haveavoided.TherehaveInasense,theocean beenongoingproblemsofcarriershadtochoosetheir congestion primarily at Westpoisonreposition the emp-Coastportsandtheinabil- ties back to Asia as soon as ity to expediently repositionpossible to reload them with equipmentbacktoAsiaforhighvalue,light,consumer refilling. The lack of equip- goodsor try to load them ment for U.S. exports has ledin the U.S. market with lowOCEAN CARRIER REVIEW 2021to complaints from Americanvalue, heavy exports such as shipperstoWashingtonthat(EFFICIENTcontinued the carriers arent responsiveon page 10)totheirneeds.Freightrates have soared and this too has raised the ire of U.S. import-ersandexportersalikewho are trying to dig themselves out from pandemic econom-ics.Andfinally,the20,000 TEU Ever Given made head-linesworldwidebygetting stuck in the Suez Canal. The ensuingbackupofcontain-ershipsspreadthroughthe global supply chain choking analreadystressedsupply chainandaddedtotheire ofanalreadyirritatedship- AS ONE, WE CAN. ping public. As if this wasnt enough,hacksandotherITONE DELIVERS YOUR EVERYDAYcalamitieshavedoggedcar-riers in ways once unimagi-nable and now becoming partWith weekly liner services to all major trade lanes around the world, of shipping life, like identityOcean Network Express (ONE) o\x02ers customers a superior level of service and fraudisforshoppers.Still, throughalltheturmoil,theconvenience when it comes to Trans-Pacic shipments between Asia and ocean carriers are making anNorth America. This is further complemented by an ongoing eet expansion program almost unparalleled financialand the use of enhanced operational and service technologies, through which ONE is reboundbeing dubbed thebetter equipped to connect with customers now and in the future.disruption upsidewhich again is a touchy issue among shippers and consumers that have endured lockdowns and layoffs for over a year and a half and havent shared in the carriers good fortune.S upplyC hain& B igS hipSAt the Propellor Club of Northern California (PCNC) February23rdZoommeet-ing,LarsJensen,CEOof Copenhagen-basedSeaIn-telligenceConsultinggave apresentationofthestate ofcontainershippingand inparticularthecongestion facingtheCaliforniaports ofLosAngelesandLong Beach. Jensens presentation was a masterclass in shipping economicsandonthecriti-calquestionofwhatcould bedonetorelieveconges-tion,headvisedpatience explainingonlyalowering indemandwouldovertime untangle the supply chain. WithapproximatelyoneOcean Network Express(North America) Inc. 8730 Stony Point Parkway, Richmond, VA 23235percent of the worlds boxes sitting at anchor in San PedroCustomer Service ( 844 ) 413 - 6029www.one-line.comBay,speedingupdischarge attheexpenseofloading'