Super-major shipper flexes muscle with DP World Australia
Summary
The incremental movements in share, which are recoverable in the shorter term, flow from the routine spillage of freighters to competitor terminals as a result of capacity interruptions, some planned and some not. VICT is said to have won its support from Maersk by keener pricing and by effectively promoting the natural and unnatural advantages of its Webb Dock facilities. It probably stands tribute to just how commercially sharp are the folk at Maersk that the Danish push for change arrived at a moment of ownership and executive transition at DPWA. Hilton’s first three months in the job have been eventful as structural volume leakage in Melbourne has been exacerbated by industrial action in March as negotiations over a new enterprise agreement took their usual turn. “We have lost significant volumes in Melbourne and we have to deal with the outcome of that.” The reason DPWA is more vulnerable to inflexibility than its peers is that it is the least automated of Australian mainstream terminal operators.