The owner of the world’s biggest container line, AP Moller-Maersk, said it will lower shipping rates on its Asia-US West Coast routes to keep hold of market share as the global financial crisis drives trade down.
“The trans-Pacific rates are currently under pressure as a result of the US economic downturn,” Vincent Clerc, head of Maersk’s trans-Pacific operations, told Bloomberg.
“We aim to keep our market share on trans-Pacific trade.”
The shipping group cut rates on the route almost 25 per cent, from about US$1,700 per 40-foot equivalent unit to about US$1,300, reported Reuters.
“Container shipping rates have came down substantially as demand is very weak and exporters are in deep water,” said the executive director of Hong Kong Shippers Council, Sunny Ho.
The drop follows Maersk’s announcement it would remove eight of its 6,500 TEU container ships from service until next year in response to a slowing demand for shipping.
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