A combination of shipping emission controls and political tensions with Russia are threatening the lives European feeder lines, reports London's Containerisation International.
A decline in Russian traffic due to Ukraine tensions has resulted in the near disappearance of the most promising CKD (completely knocked down) car parts for assembly bound for St Petersburg.
Now niche feeder operators are being squeezed out as in-house feeders from P3 partners CMA CGM, Maersk and MSC work with sustainable volumes to serve a wide range of ports.
There is also competition from road and rail, said the CI report. Trucks can compete on several sectors and block trains offer price as well as destination and environmental bells and whistles.
Then there is the January enforcement sulphur fuel emissions rule when shipowners are faced with major compliance costs and question of replacing engines or retrofitting them with scrubbers.
From January, permitted sulphur emission levels fall from one per cent to 0.1 per cent to in emission control areas and some sources suggest an 87 per cent increase in bunker costs.
"The cost impact will have to be reflected in the freight charges. The ever-shortening time scale hangs over the sector," said Antwerp feeder operator Delphis' managing director Alexander Saverys.
Only Containerships so far, with German technical and operational partners GNS/Nordic and Arkon, has made any announcement about how it intends to tackle the issue; it has ordered two dual-fuel vessels for its fleet.
The ultimate outcome of these changes is, however, far from clear as any transfer of cargo to road is counter to EU aims, said Mr Saverys.
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