Further to the sweeping changes to the carrier alliances in April 2017, further changes have occurred recently which once again are having an impact on ocean freight as a whole.

Following the merger of all Japanese carriers into one, the alliances now line up as follows:

2M Alliance

• HMM (although their AEX service remains independent)

• Maersk (Including Hamburg Sud)

Ocean Alliance

• APL

• CMA CGM

• Cosco

• Evergreen

• OOCL

THE Alliance

• Hapag Lloyd

• ONE

• Yang Ming

Independents

• HMM (AEX service)

• UniOcean

The three alliances have about 70% of the market share, with the top 15 carriers growing their share of global shipping capacity from 78% to 85% in 2017 through various mergers and acquisitions. This is expected to continue throughout 2018.

The efficiency of loading within these three alliances that share ships has led to a surplus of vessels, with the increase in consolidation adding to the need for fewer vessels and therefore bringing down rates.