Northern Europe to Far East ocean freight bookings put on hold by largest carrier

Maersk, the world's largest shipping line, ceased to accept cargo bookings on sailings from North Europe to the Far East last week.

Eastbound shippers in Europe will have a hard time finding alternatives as Maersk is the largest carrier in the North Europe-Asia trade, with a current market share of 27% according to Alphaliner estimates.

Maersk said that the complete halt in bookings was due to the "large number of consecutive vessel cancellations following Chinese New Year" on westbound sailings in late January, which have resulted in void sailings from North Europe in March. This has led to a significant cargo build-up in North Europe. The company indicated that bookings could be suspended for six weeks, with the container backlog expected to be cleared only in early May.

According to Alphaliner the decision to stop all bookings, as well as the duration of the booking suspension, is highly unusual as eastbound cargo volumes from Europe usually represent less than half of westbound volumes. While most carriers are reporting strong booking positions until April, none of Maersk's competitors have ceased to take bookings on such a scale. Some carriers have turned away selective bookings to face the sudden space shortage on the eastbound market.