If we are tracking each container liner’s operating vessels’ number as well as the average capacity of a ship, it represents certain trends in number and capacity wise.

Trend 1: The number of ships is moving upper direction, which means increasing numbers of the ship in general.

Trend 2: The average capacity of a ship is moving right direction, which means upsizing capacity in general.

Trend 3: Forming container liners group from three(3) groups to two(2) group.

Trend 4: There is a group which is not changing the number of ships nor capacity of each ship.

I think it is related to the concentration of container shipping market and well explaining the trend of reshaping liners under financial difficulties.

Although it was not possible to secure each line’s revenue to calculate HHI (Herfindahl-Hirschman Index), it seems workable in calculating HHI based on the size of capacity which should be allied with revenue directly.

By the result of the calculation, though it is not correct squaring share of sales of each company, it could reach 1,400 by the result of recent announcements made by global carriers.

For reference, according to DOJ, ‘The agencies generally consider markets in which the HHI is between 1,500 and 2,500 points to be moderately concentrated and consider markets in which the HHI is in excess of 2,500 points to be highly concentrated’.

Edited by Kwang-Yong Jung on August 14, 2017