WIDDOWS WARNS OF LARGE SCALE CAPACITY REDUCTIONS

[proud_ionian]

source:

MGN

THE Chief Executive of Neptune Orient Lines (NOL), which includes container shipping line APL, has warned of difficult times for ahead the container shipping industry.

Speaking at a graduation ceremony at Erasmus University in Rotterdam Ron Widdows said: advised the graduates: “The global container shipping industry is facing a turbulent period of collapsing profitability, with the need to reduce costs and align its capabilities to much lower demand levels. Companies face difficult choices in their asset deployment and large-scale capacity reductions are likely.”

He outlined a vision for the future, which he ventured would help the situation, “The industry is in desperate need of an influx of highly qualified employees with skill sets in areas such as financial restructuring and analysis, economic forecasting and change management. Without new thinking and new talent, liner shipping is doomed to repeat the failings of its recent past,” he said.

Concluding he said: “An appetite for dealing with uncertainty and the capacity to create efficiency in a reduced-scale business environment will be hallmarks of the successful next generation of shipping executives.”