Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/763665
34 STiR coffee and tea / Issue 6, 2016 (December/January) companies are doing what they can to mitigate their risks," he said. "Shipping costs are far too low to continue transporting goods. Their hope would be to reduce supply and increase demand for their services." Expect mergers and acquisitions Determined to reduce the long-term ship capacity glut and survive, some shipping companies are looking at competitors for merger or buy-outs, according to Philip von Mecklenburg-Blumenthal, head of US operations for the international online freight marketplace Freightos. (See Shipping Indusry pg. 31.) The top three shipping companies in Japan – Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd., Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, and Nippon Yusen KK – announced in October they would merge their container operations. In December A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S, owner of the world's largest container line, purchased Hamburg Süd, a German container shipping line, from Oetker Group. "We welcome consolidation," Mikkel Elbek Linnet of Maersk Line told Bloomberg News in late October. "Our industry is fragmented and consolidation can help trans- form our business for the benefit of our customers." Panama Canal invites mega ships Expanded locks in the Panama Canal permit ships carrying as many as 13,000 TEU (20-foot equivalent unit) containers to pass across the isthmus between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. Until completion of the 10-year expansion, most Asian-grown coffee beans landed on the West Coast and were shipped cross country by train. The largest ships now can reach ports along the US gulf and east coasts. Most coffee continues to arrive in bags since few US warehouses can unload lined containers holding bulk coffee Panamax container ships loaded with Asian coffee can now reach Gulf and East Coast ports via an expanded Panama Canal. The locks opened June 26. Bags (60 Kg) 2014 2015 2016 2016 VOCC Top 20 YTD January February March April May June July August September October November** MSC-Mediterranean Shipping Co. 6,769,109 6,463,088 5,637,143 452,175 459,898 567,082 489,902 663,196 596,631 543,027 631,892 617,480 393,878 221,982 Hapag-Lloyd 3,587,844 4,532,454 4,927,448 362,744 414,406 533,121 468,573 574,824 587,790 529,648 415,322 460,085 455,593 125,342 Hamburg Süd 2,358,129 3,935,151 2,955,037 378,925 346,812 361,323 261,988 264,333 237,493 213,967 271,315 259,571 240,912 118,397 Maersk Line 3,211,925 2,455,979 2,734,088 265,885 292,315 280,839 213,968 335,454 303,274 270,136 232,708 229,500 221,945 88,064 Evergreen Line 1,535,077 1,333,925 890,392 133,676 111,021 112,683 111,549 112,464 83,409 50,473 48,327 47,022 62,805 16,964 Mitsui O.S.K. Lines 768,829 567,879 658,425 81,425 58,883 51,453 76,488 39,737 25,023 90,183 64,395 106,264 35,484 29,088 NYK Line 640,893 715,940 269,969 16,371 13,892 12,286 17,180 9,724 38,877 43,619 37,077 30,554 33,283 17,107 APL Co. 757,597 484,790 334,237 30,790 32,144 25,523 25,121 29,708 33,688 48,266 47,614 35,909 16,300 9,174 CMA CGM Group 520,263 404,808 494,665 37,734 13,729 57,031 70,547 53,874 65,355 41,567 57,443 37,187 40,447 19,753 Seaboard Marine Ltd. 497,018 361,988 458,529 34,332 34,548 31,914 24,182 38,746 50,629 63,578 81,629 57,931 30,460 10,581 Subtotal (Top 10 Shipping Co.) 20,646,685 21,256,002 19,359,933 1,794,056 1,777,648 2,033,257 1,759,497 2,122,060 2,022,169 1,894,465 1,887,722 1,881,502 1,531,107 656,451 All other shipping companies 2,505,246 1,720,255 1,764,568 109,151 152,569 173,493 182,123 163,653 181,794 153,312 175,977 184,719 196,408 91,368 Grand Total 23,151,931 22,976,257 21,124,501 1,903,206 1,930,217 2,206,750 1,941,620 2,285,713 2,203,963 2,047,777 2,063,699 2,066,221 1,727,515 747,819 US Imports of Green Coffee (60-kilo bags) - Datamyne ** November is through Nov 12, 2016 The new, larger Panamax ships de- liver more than double the cargo carried by a standard 5,000 TEU vessel. The in- frastructure needed to handle both the ships' size and the volume of cargo at many American ports, however, are not yet ready to handle offloading. Work on an improved Bayonne Bridge connect- ing New York and New Jersey must be completed before the larger ships can pass under. That target date is late 2017. Larger cranes also must be added to New Jersey ports. "On the positive side, we will see additional available capacity to the east coast and gulf coast ports, which will keep ocean rates relatively in check," said American Coffee's Donald Pisano. "On the negative side, we can expect increased congestion at the terminals with delays