MOL Liner Business

Container shipping is a fascinating industry. Almost everything you can buy in a shop or store has been shipped in a container. Whether it is fruit, car parts, clothing, toys, audio equipment or Christmas decorations: good chance that it was shipped in a container. Seasons, economy, politics and demography all have an impact on the volume of cargo being transported.

“Liner business” refers to the sailing schedule of the container ships, which operate fixed lines and times and calls at standard ports. In a way, it can be compared to a bus or train schedule.

MOL operates various lines between continents. In Europe, we focus on the Europe – Asia, Europe – Africa and Europe – North America lines or Trades. The ships sail in a loop, calling at various ports in the departure and destination region and often at strategic ports along the way as well.

It can take a ship up to 56 days to complete the Asia – Europe loop. Because MOL wants to offer a weekly schedule, we have eight ships sailing in the same loop. This allows a weekly coverage for every port. The ships in a loop are usually supplied by a group of companies, called alliances. MOL is part of The New World Alliance (TNWA), together with Singapore based APL and Hyundai Merchant Marine from South Korea.

Each Trade has different dynamics. The Europe – Asia Trade is dominated by a large volume of light weight cargo coming to Europe, whilst less -albeit heavier- cargo is shipped to Asia. The Africa – Europe Trade knows many commodities such as cacao, cotton, etc; many of them are seasonal. The equipment used to ship this cargo is different from the standard containers which are predominantly used in the Europe – Africa route. The Transatlantic Trade is primarily influenced by the exchange rate of the US dollar.

The volume of cargo that is being transported over sea is continuously increasing. Shipping companies adapt to this by introducing more, and larger, vessels. It also affects the ports, which have to make sure that they can harbour these bigger ships and manage the in- and outflow of containers. This is the reason that for example Rotterdam, Hamburg and Antwerp have ambitious expansion plans. MOL is part of a joint venture that will build and own a large container terminal on the Maasvlakte II in Rotterdam, to be completed in 2013.

The container business is very competitive. The players in the field watch each others behaviour closely and respond immediately when the competition adjusts their rates or changes their services.

All these aspects are important to the day to day operations of MOL. Every department, from imports to marketing, has to make sure that they optimise not only their internal processes but the cooperation with other departments as well.