Shipping lines opt for one-stop service

Long-established logistics supply chains are being disrupted as shipping lines reinvent themselves as fullservice logistics companies, and actively promote through bills of lading. CMA CGM recently announced a “friendly” buyout of CEVA Logistics. “We can now offer our customers a complete range of solutions that meet all their needs and set us apart from the competition,” said Rodolphe Saadé, chairman and chief executive officer of the CMA CGM Group in the statement announcing the purchase of CEVA, which will be delisted from the Zurich Stock Exchange. According to a company statement, “the CMA CGM Group will now be able to meet the logistics needs of its customers around the world with a comprehensive range of solutions across the supply chain, including LCL, airfreight, purchase order management, contract logistics or customs clearance”. At the beginning of 2019 AP Moller-Maersk merged

Maersk Line and Damco into a single organisation “in an effort to provide endto-end logistic solutions for cargo owners,” according to a company statement. It would also “unlock growth potential in the logistics and services segment". AP Moller-Maersk will combine its offering for ocean products and supply

chain services to be able to offer more comprehensive end-to-end logistic solutions for cargo owners. “This is the next step in the Maersk journey to become a global, integrated container transport and logistics company,” according to the statement. MSC says on its website that “we consistently focus on

warehousing and distribution. “Through establishing a global network of warehouse and storage facilities, we are proud to offer a door-todoor logistics service to our customers, enabling them to move cargo anywhere in the world.” Chinese line COSCO, which is ranked as the thirdbiggest shipping line in the

world, states on its website: “Following the steps of ‘one belt one road’, COSCO Shipping Lines is establishing railway, trucking service teams, along with its container fleet, to fully coordinate our resources of port, storage yard and warehouse." Most other lines are following similar strategies. The transformation of shipping lines into full-service logistics companies is putting pressure on independent freight forwarders, clearing houses and transporters. With around 90% of goods traded globally being transported by ship at one point or another, the shipping lines have the opportunity to deal directly with the owners of the goods rather than their agents. For shippers, the benefit is that they are only dealing with a single entity and receive one bill. The risk to trade is that, if the lines own the logistics chains, they will have far more control over what shippers pay. This could drive up the cost of doing business globally.