What context?
Maritime transport is a major contributor to world GDP with an estimated business volume of 700 billion euros in the last fiscal year.
We all remember in March 2021 the grounding of the container ship of the company "Evergreen" which had blocked the Suez Canal, causing a major disruption of global maritime traffic ... And this in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. Several hundred ships of the major shipowners MSC, MAERSK or CMA-CGM were then detained and then massively diverted from Suez.
Some had decided to turn back and hoped to reach Europe, bypassing Africa via the Cape of Good Hope... While this detour represents nearly 6,500 kilometers traveled between five and nine days at sea, that is to say a considerable amount of time and costs.
The consequences of the grounding of the container ship were multiple: a delay in the logistics chain, an explosion in the price of containers (the price of the latter, whose dimensions are standardized internationally, is based on a 40-foot box profile, or about 12 meters.
Before the pandemic, the average rental cost worldwide was about $2,240, compared to $10,000 globally today! Delivery times have also been impacted, going from 5 weeks between China and Europe in 2019, to 2.5 months during the pandemic... With discharge and recharge time extended to over 40 days compared to 7 to 10 days previously.
More generally, the scarcity of containers has of course contributed to the explosion in the price of transported goods.
Such damage is more frequent than one might think. For example, a new container ship ran aground on March 13 off the port of Baltimore [USA]. The first attempts to get the vessel back afloat were unsuccessful, and crews are still working to lighten the vessel's load and attempt to get it back afloat.
The practice of blank sailing
Blank sailing is in fact a cancellation of a stopover, decided by a shipping company. The practice is perfectly legal in the event of damage or delay to be made up, but the current question lies in the increasingly frequent use of this practice. The optimization of port calls remains a major concern for both handlers and shipowners.
For terminal operators, the proper management of these stages also depends on the regularity of ship arrivals. If a ship cancels a call or arrives late, the impact on the operational schedule is immediate and all operations in progress are then delayed. And as mentioned, if a damage occurs, it is then a total blockage... Managing this problem and the possible disorganization of the traffic that would result from it is very delicate... But what exactly is the practice of blank sailing?
TheAssociationof Freight Transport Users[AUTF] suspects that the shipowners have knowingly organized the disorganization of the market, and therefore maintain this scarcity of containers which contributes to the explosion of rates.
Overbooking has also been pointed out, with some ships being filled to around 110%, which means that goods that are deemed less profitable than others can be refused loading.
Shippers then often encounter difficulties in shipping their goods and at the end of the chain, companies no longer receive their goods, resulting in postponed deliveries, additional costs, potential loss of business, etc.
Flags of convenience
A vessel under a flag of convenience is a vessel that flies the colors of a country other than that of the actual owner. Like the blank sailing mentioned above, the use of this practice is essentially based on questions of profitability and therefore cost optimization.
Indeed, one of the common denominators of all these ships is the establishment of very low wages, and little or no social protection for the crew.
In addition, these flags generally allow these ships to avoid control, among others by the ITF, International TransportWorkers Federation. The ITF negotiates agreements with international organizations in order to guarantee the rights of employees.
Thus, it is not uncommon to find that some seafarers sometimes sail without having received the slightest salary for several months... Filipinos, Chinese, Indians, but also Russians and Ukrainians make up a large part of the workforce of the international merchant marine. The current Russian-Ukrainian conflict has caused many seafarers from these two countries to return home, with the risk of generating a shortage of experienced manpower.
Finally, among the flags of convenience, let us mention some countries frequently mentioned on an international level: the Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, Malta, Jamaica, Lebanon... That is to say about forty flags [at least].
Pollution: degassing and falling containers
When talking about merchant marine, it is difficult not to mention pollution. First of all, illegal discharges, which are difficult to detect, even by satellite.
Once again, why this degassing? According to current legislation, the cleaning of a ship's tanks must be carried out in a port, by a specialized and certified company. This specific procedure complies with very strict environmental standards, which consequently represents an additional cost that shipowners try to avoid.
In its fight against mischief at sea, France has the Spationav surveillance system. This system provides the French Navy and the main authorities with a real-time surveillance system of the maritime approaches to the coasts of Metropolitan France and the French West Indies, as well as French Guiana. This tool allows us to actively participate in the fight against illegal trafficking, illegal immigration, terrorism, but also illegal dumping.
In addition, the European Maritime SafetyAgency[EMSA], located in Lisbon, has surveillance resources.
If the vessel in question is French, the hearings are then carried out by the maritime police. In the case of vessels in foreign ports, the specialized court in Marseille, under the authority of the public prosecutor, is then able to request international mutual assistance.
And what about containers falling into the open sea?
Every year, thousands of containers end up at the bottom of the ocean or sometimes washed up on beaches around the world. These accidents, which are very frequent, are extremely polluting. In addition to the financial loss due to the loss of containers, insurers always fear the occurrence of major environmental losses, sometimes with colossal financial consequences.
With an ever-increasing average size, the latest generation of container ships represent huge floating inventories of insured cargo; knowing that the average value of a single loaded container is at least $45,000.
New requirements
Climatic, environmental and geopolitical requirements, new technologies, flow management... Shipowners must manage their activities to the letter in order to have as little impact as possible on their operating accounts.
The giants of the sector, which are making huge profits, have also embarked on a policy of acquisitions, under the heading of diversification [air, land], in order to control the entire supply chain. The latest example in December 2021: the Danish carrier A.P. MOLLER-MAERSK announced the purchase of the Chinese logistics specialist LF LOGISTICS [223 warehouses and a fleet of trucks in Asia] for $3.6 billion; MOLLER-MAERSK already handles one in five containers worldwide. For its part, the French company CMA-CGM, which already owns 500 ships, has ordered some twenty new vessels from Chinese and Korean shipyards in particular.
If the current surge in tariffs persists, the level of prices charged in relation to global imports of goods could increase by 11% by 2023. The Suez Canal accident has put the spotlight on the world of shipowners, but also on the great precariousness of maritime flows that can be blocked by the slightest damage.
In addition to the Suez bypass and its additional 6,500 kilometers, the Northern Sea Route [NSR], which would link the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean along the northern coast of Russia, had been mentioned. However, given the current geopolitical context, this option seems difficult to envisage at the moment.
Last but not least, Shanghai, China's economic capital, has been under lock and key since the end of March by the Chinese authorities in order to fight, once again, against Covid-19. This situation is currently generating significant congestion in the port terminals. As a result, shipowners are turning away en masse from Shanghai, which has had the effect of unbalancing the capacity of the world's leading container port, Ningbo-Zhoushan, where nearly 140 ships are already waiting. This new difficulty is likely to aggravate the logistical tensions currently observed in the world.
