Florida's Top 10 Container Carriers

Florida ports and the ocean cargo carriers calling at Florida ports demonstrate that they are a special and unusual group when it comes time to crunch their import and export numbers. There is subtlety in this market and diversity that illustrates the economic power of the carriers that do not show up among the top 10 Florida container carriers for 2007-2008.

The Jones Act carriers calling at U.S. Caribbean colonies and the top 10 carriers fall in this order: Seaboard Marine, Crowley Liner Services, Tropical Shipping/Thompson Line, Maersk Line, Mediterranean Shipping Co., Hamburg Süd Group, CMA CGM Group, APL, Evergreen Line and China Shipping.

Add in the import and export numbers for Crowley in the Puerto Rico trades and Crowley rises to the top overall.

But these numbers are equally interesting for their differences. Only Seaboard and Crowley have a sufficient reach and versatility to achieve more than 10 percent overall market share, with Tropical close behind. Mighty Maersk controls 7.2 percent of the market share but that market is so dissolved the charts do not reflect 100 percent of the carriers.

Diversity

When PIERS Global Intelligence Solutions prepared our tables, they found the top 10 export carriers comprised only 75.2 percent of all Florida cargo carriers. (PIERS is a sister company of Florida Shipper.) On the import side, the top 10 together controlled a 71.7 percent share of the whole. In other words, carriers other than those in the top 10 control 30 percent of the cargo imported into Florida. Likewise, 25 percent of all international exports were onboard carriers other than those in the top 10.

Why? When you seek the country where the most containers departing from Florida were unloaded, the top export country is the Bahamas. But when you look for the No. 1 port for exports arriving from Florida, that port is not Nassau, the chief port in the Bahamas. Instead, it is Puerto Cortes, which is the chief apparel port in Central America located in Honduras.

Where once Seaboard and Tropical called only at Nassau and Freeport in the Bahamas with containerloads, now G&G Shipping is delivering containers to Paradise Island, West End and a half-dozen other Bahama ports. Bernuth has added calls at Freeport along with Atlantic Caribbean Line out of Fort Pierce. And Bernuth is calling at Governors Harbor and Harbour Island as well.
However, rag trade shipments to and from Central America are concentrated at Puerto Cortes, Honduras, a Container Security Initiative port called at weekly by Seaboard, Maersk, Crowley, CMA CGM and APL.

Maersk slide continues

Between 2005 and 2006, Maersk was No. 1 among international container import carriers and No. 3 overall in Florida. Maersk’s import volume totaled 141,760 TEUs. Exports totaled 49,680 TEUs, a 38 percent drop from the 2004-2005 period. Maersk’s total was 191,440 TEUs as calculated by PIERS.

In last year’s calculation, Maersk’s numbers and market share continued to decline with an 18.4 percent drop in imports to Florida and a 21.9 percent decline in export containers.

In this most recent calculation from April 2007 to March 2008, Maersk is in fourth place with a 7.2 percent market share and 128,347 TEUs combined imports and exports. Maersk was down 24 percent on the import side. Along with most of the rest of the top 10, however, Maersk benefited from the remarkable increase in exports and was up 7 percent to 38,807 TEUs.

Only Crowley Liner Services (down 4.1 percent) and APL (down 13 percent) showed a export declines.

Growth for MSC, CMA CGM

Mediterranean Shipping enjoyed a 67 percent increase in export containers year-over-year, followed closely by rival CMA CGM, which achieved a 60.4 percent increase in exports to continue its dramatic expansion in Central America.

In the 2006-2007 period, CMA CGM posted a 43.6 percent increase in export cargo and a 41.9 percent increase in import containers, even while its direct shipments to Central America and South America from Asia and Europe often bypass Florida ports.

In the summer of 2007, CMA CGM (Caribbean) Inc. upgraded its CAGEMA service in the eastern Caribbean and introduced a new sprint from Miami to Kingston at one end of its new BRAZEX rotation as part of a two-year effort to reduce transit times and increase service to meet demand in the Caribbean.

As of May 7, 2007, the CAGEMA rotation added Antigua and Martinique on the main line, which is now a weekly service of two 850-TEU vessels instead of the previous 400-TEU vessels. The main line departs from Miami and calls at Philipsburg, St. John’s, Fort de France, Castries, Bridgetown, Port of Spain and Kingston, and then returns to Miami.

The month-old BRAZEX service put CMA CGM into the highly competitive sprint between Miami and Kingston with Friday departures and Monday arrivals at Kingston. The BRAZEX operates with five ships each with a 1,300-TEU capacity. CMA CGM will load for Kingston with receipt of containers up to noon in Miami on Friday on this container-only service.

The service begins on the South Atlantic coast of Brazil at San Francisco de Sul Brazil with subsequent calls each day at Paranagua, Santos and Rio de Janeiro. Three days later, the ships call at Suape, Brazil. Then there is a five-day passage to Port of Spain; three-day passages to Puerto Cabello, Venezuela; three more to Cartagena; and three to Miami.

MSC’s market share is likely to increase next year because of its constant expansion of services win the Caribbean basin.

In March of this year, too late for this year’s calculations, Mediterranean Shipping Co. (USA) Inc. announced a weekly direct service from Port Everglades to Puerto Santo Tomas De Castilla in Guatemala, Puerto Cortes in Honduras, and Puerto Limon in Costa Rica beginning this month.
The new service features a fixed-day schedule with two vessels. There is a Friday cutoff day at Port Everglades for Central America-bound freight. The MSC vessel calls at Puerto Santo Tomas on Tuesdays, Puerto Cortes on Thursdays and Puerto Limon on Sundays.

MSC connects with other ports through its hub in Freeport, Bahamas, and offers truck service to destinations in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica.

Seaboard and Crowley rivalry

Seaboard and Crowley have ramped up service to Santo Tomas in Honduras and Puerto Cortes in Guatemala. Seaboard has increased frequency between Florida and New Orleans and the twin apparel ports. Crowley calls at Puerto Cortes and Santo Tomas, two of Florida’s top export ports, from Port Everglades on a weekly rotation.

In May 2007, Seaboard Lines announced a second weekly sailing from Miami to and from Panama and Costa Rica.

Crowley’s expansion

In February 2007 Crowley Maritime Corp.’s Latin America liner services unit added a new larger, faster ro-ro ship to its Central America northern zone service.

The Stena Shipper, a 19-knot ship with 150-FEU trailer spaces replaced the Tolosa, which can carry about 105-FEU trailers at 17 knots. Crowley’s U.S. East Coast-Central America northern zone service features four southbound sailings a week that link Port Everglades, Fla., with Santo Tomas, Guatemala, and Puerto Cortes, Honduras. San Salvador, El Salvador and Managua, Nicaragua, are served overland via Santo Tomas and Puerto Cortes.

Crowley also added a new southbound service twice a week. It departs on Wednesdays and Saturdays from Port Everglades. The carrier has also added a five-day transit to Haiti by way of Rio Haina, Dominican Republic.

Imports decline

On the import side, the start-up operations at the Port of Tampa, Port Canaveral and the Port of Fort Pierce generated dramatic growth in import container volumes. But imports were down 10.6 percent statewide. Miami and the Port of Jacksonville posted identical 17.8 percent declines in import cargo. Port Everglades, just behind Miami and ahead of Jaxport saw only a 2.9 percent decline in imports. And the Port of Palm Beach enjoyed a 1.8 percent increase in containerized imports.

Despite the overall decline, imports from Busan, Korea, increased 57.7 percent. Imports from Yantian, China, jumped 3.2 percent. And imports from Puerto Cortes, by far the leader among international ports with 12.3 percent market share, increased 2.5 percent.

Statistically significant

Two years ago at this time, six of the top 10 export sources experienced a statistical decline in their market share (in favor of the Chinese). Brazil’s market share was up 5.7 percent, Costa Rica’s market share was up 11 percent, and Colombia’s market share was up 7 percent. Ironically, all of the signatories of the CAFTA countries showed a net decline in exports to Florida, while the NAFTA nations of Mexico and Canada did not appear in the top 10. Costa Rica, which had not attempted to join the CAFTA accord, experienced a 10.6 percent gain in exports from Puerto Limon.

This year with CAFTA in place and Costa Rica still attempting to achieve compliance, the CAFTA nations of Honduras and Dominican Republic were among the leaders in imports from Florida. But Guatemala, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic exported less to Florida. In the case of the Dominican Republic, exports to Florida ports declined 20.3 percent. Brazil, which had a 34.7 decline in exports to Florida, suffered the most dramatic drop in exports.