One of the themes aired in the session “Big ships, big alliances and big challenges” at the recent TOC CSC conference in Rotterdam, was that of terminal alliances.
Many questions were raised:
Monica Michel Bonvalet, commercial director of Grand Port Maritime de Marseilles-Fos, is in favour of such deals. “I believe alliances between terminal operators could benefit productivity, improve the quality of services offered and help raise efficiencies across the supply chain.”
She indicated that agreements could be of a varying nature and include cooperation on specific issues such as technology, terminal design, planning and operations to wider-spread strategic and business development goals.
Neil Davidson, senior analyst ports and terminals at UK-based Drewry Maritime Advisors, agreed. “There is a whole range of alliance activity up and down the spectrum and operators have to find the right point on that scale, and that depends on market conditions and the individuals involved,” he said. “On the one hand you have the possibility of two neighbouring terminal operators discussing operations with each other, while on the other you have full scale mergers and acquisitions.”
Eryn Dinyovszky, general manager of Yilport Oslo, believes mergers and acquisitions can be important. She is in the process of implementing a new strategy for the Turkish company’s assets in the Nordic region, which, in addition to the Oslo Container Terminal, include the Swedish port of Gävle and Stockholm’s Nord Combi Terminal.
“We intend changing the logistics game in the Nordic region,” she said. “Our expertise in managing terminals and logistics services will give shippers to/from the area access to new lower-cost transport networks with fewer intermediaries involved.”
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This complete item is approximately 350 words in length, and appeared in the June 2015 issue of WorldCargo News, on page 7. To access this issue download the PDF here.
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