Shippers operating Brazilian services faced a tough market in May. Total shipments fell 1.3% on a year earlier, the first drop since October, Panjiva data for imports and exports shows. That was due to an 8.0% slide in export shipments, with container handling – which fell 6.8% as outlined in Panjiva research of July 7 – outperforming bulk shipments. Not all shippers lost out though. The fastest growth rate was experienced by the second tier Asian shippers including COSCO Shipping’s 41.1% expansion, though in the month it lagged NYK’s 2.1% increase.

Among the major shippers Hapag-Lloyd saw the fastest expansion, with a 13.3% growth on a year earlier and 1.5% improvement on the prior month. CMA-CGM meanwhile expanded by 1.7% on the prior year, and should see renewed growth following its agreement to buy Mercosul from Maersk as part of the latter’s purchase of Hamburg Sud.

Chart compares combined Brazilian import and export volumes by SCAC code for November against year earlier (horizontal) and previous month (vertical). Colors are for readability only.Source: Panjiva

Maersk on a stand-alone basis lost ground, experiencing a 3.4% drop in volumes handled in the month of May, and growing by just 0.7% for the quarter. That likely reflects its higher-than-average exposure to Spain, which has experienced strikes since March. As a result it lost 0.31% points of market share in total, falling to sixth place behind CMA-CGM.

However, when combined with the growth experienced by Hamburg Sud (including Alianca) the “2018 Maersk” expanded its market share by 1.9% points on a year earlier to reach 36.4%. It may nonetheless have suffered a setback in June and early July as a result of the Petya computer virus disruption to its bookings.

Calculations based on sum of import and export shipment data for Brazil for three months vs. same period a year earlier. Source: Panjiva