Evergreen Line

Evergreen Line and the four members of the CKYH Alliance have agreed in principle to form a new alliance that will share ships on trades between Asia and North Europe and the Mediterranean.

Major container lines hope to increase rates in multiple trade lanes in March, April and May, although any hikes achieved could be fleeting.

After more than five years of inertia in the marine terminal business, the industry is beginning to churn. Some investors who spent billions of dollars in the mid-2000s to buy into container terminals want out, while others see this as a good time to invest in the industry.

Jefferies expects Asian container lines’ earnings for the fourth quarter of 2013 overall will be in line with or below Bloomberg consensus estimates, as freight rates in Asia-related trade lanes continued to slide and overcapacity remained.

It’s too early to predict precisely how the container shipping business will play out in the new year, but there is one certainty: The P3 Network will shake things up in a big way. In the six months since Maersk Line, Mediterranean Shipping Co. and CMA CGM announced they would pool their biggest ships in a giant vessel-sharing alliance in the main east-west trades, competing liner companies have been playing catch-up in an effort to match the P3’s market size and power.