MSC, Maersk’s 2M alliance partner, seldom shares its views on the container market. And statements made by Chief Operating Officer Claudio Bozzo in the framework of the Italian Chamber of Commerce were not meant for publication.
The world’s largest container carrier, MSC, doesn’t believe in an improvement of the strained container market any time this year, instead assessing that the situation could worsen in coming months.
In a somewhat unusual turn, Chief Operating Officer Claudio Bozzo has made statements concerning the company’s expectations for the development in the container market, which has been roaring ahead for the past year and a half.
The current congestion situation will persist for the remainder of 2022.
Claudio Bozzo, COO, MSC
The surprising part isn’t so much that Bozzo has expressed his opinion, but rather that it has been made public, given that MSC is known for rarely agreeing to interviews on commercial or financial affairs. For instance, MSC’s earnings data is kept secret from the public.
In fact, these very detailed remarks weren’t meant to be published. But because a journalist from Italian media Shipping Italy was present in the Italian Chamber of Commerce where Bozzo made a presentation, they were publicized anyway.
”The current congestion situation will persist for the remainder of 2022,” said Claudio Bozzo, according to Shipping Italy.
Covid-19 and shortage of drivers
According to Bozzo, the problems are tied to the continued Covid-19 situation in many places around the world, further exacerbated by the difficulty in finding drivers and employees in general.
”In the coming months, there will be even fewer available ships because operators have postponed maintenance work as long as possible, but now certain repairs cannot be postponed any longer, so capacity will be reduced. On top of that, we are seeing an increase in the price of oil and fuel. The higher prices for ocean transport will primarily be paid by carriers, but ultimately by the end consumers,” the MSC exec noted, according to Shipping Italy.
In fact, Bozzo estimated that the only realistic possibility of any mitigation in the red-hot container market at moment is rising inflation. This could potentially put a damper on consumer spending, reducing demand for transport.
WPO has reached out to MSC for a comment on whether there are any inaccuracies in Shipping Italy’s quotations, but this is not the case, the carrier writes.
Not sailing to Ukraine or Russia
Claudio Bozzo’s statements are in line with views expressed by other shipping companies for some time: that any stabilization of supply and demand won’t come about until sometime in 2023 – and perhaps even into 2024, as estimated by McKinsey & Co. in a new analysis released last week.
Bozzo also touched on the subject of Ukraine and how this will affect MSC:
”We’re no longer able to sail to Ukraine or Russia, and there are containers that will be left behind by customers because they cannot reach their destinations. We’re experiencing problems with seafarers as 14 percent of them are Russian or Ukrainian citizens. In MSC, we have many Ukrainians who ask us to go home in order to reunite with their families.”
We fear that cyber attacks could come from Russia,
Claudio Bozzo, COO, MSC
Lastly, the risk of a cyber attack carried out by Russia has grown more prominent in the industry in connection with the war:
”We fear that cyber attacks could come from Russia,” the COO stated, according to Shipping Italy.
