Export Surge Pushes Round-Trip Strategy on Pacific

Container ship line APL says the fast-growing U.S. export volume on the Pacific is pushing carriers toward a greater “round-trip mentality” in their operations on the country’s largest trade lanes.

Gene Seroka, president for the Americas at APL, told the Agriculture Transportation Coalition annual meeting over the weekend in San Francisco, APL is establishing “matchbacks” in its U.S. transportation operations to match the economics of shipping demand.

That means managing container movements as two-way moves in which an imported container is unloaded and refilled with exports that contribute to round-trip revenue, he said.

Seroko said container ship operators expect strong growth in U.S. exports this year and have capacity in place to handle the volume, but shippers may face container shortages later this year as demand grows, the told agricultural shippers.

“Expect trade to run strong for the rest of 2011,” he said.

Total cargo volume in the westbound Pacific was up almost 10 percent through April compared to the same period last year and a weaker U.S. dollar is helping push demand at fast-recovering Asia economies. At the same time, carriers are bringing in new capacity, and some 2 million TEUs of additional capacity will be added to the global fleet by 2013, Seroka said.

“The increase in capacity has helped exporters,” he said.

However, despite ample container availability so far this year, equipment shortages could develop in regions that normally experience deficits, including the Midwest, Southwest and Gulf states, Seroka said.

The round-trip strategy is aimed at addressing dislocations in equipment fleet through APL’s domestic transportation subsidiary, Seroka said.