MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 29th November, 2022) The share of container-carrying capacity of 20 largest maritime carriers has increased from 48% to 91% over last 25 years, which may lead to abuses of competitive advantage on the global market, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said on Tuesday.
"Between 1996 and 2022, the top 20 carriers increased their share of container-carrying capacity from 48% to 91%. And over the past five years, the four largest carriers increased their market shares to control more than half of the global capacity," the press statement read.
The statement also said the container shipping sector has been "transformed by horizontal consolidation through mergers and acquisitions" and that shipping carriers have also "pursued vertical integration by investing in terminal operations and other logistics services."
"Between 2006 and 2022, the size of the world's largest container ships more than doubled from 9,380 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) to 23,992 TEU. The size of the largest ship in each country almost tripled, thus ships grew faster than the volumes of cargo to fill them," the statement added.
The UNCTAD called on competition and port authorities to cooperate and respond to maritime shipping industry consolidation with measures to protect competition, according to the press release.
