Datamyne’s new quarterly ranking report on the top 20 NVOCCs (non-vessel operating common carriers) in US maritime import trade wraps up 2014 with Expeditors International of Washington (EXDO), Blue Anchor America Line (BANQ), and Christal Lines (CHSL) ranked No. 1, 2 and 3, respectively, by volume. The report ranks NVOCCs by import volumes in TEUs (20-foot equivalent units).
According to Datamyne’s maritime trade data, Expeditors International handled 419,591 TEUs last year, compared with 393,847 TEUs for Blue Anchor (which is the US trade name for Switzerland-based Kuehne+Nagel), and 318,037 TEUs for Christal Lines (part of C.H. Robinson Worldwide).
The NVOCC sector is highly fragmented. The Washington-state-based Expeditors International, which has topped the US import volumes rankings for years, accounted for 6.05% of US import TEUs handled by NVOCCs in 2014. The share for Blue Anchor was 5.68%; for Christal Lines, 4.58%
Any worries that the West Coast ports’ labor dispute and resultant slow downs would dent fourth-quarter business for NVOCCs seem to have been unfounded. In fact, the opposite might be true, with more shippers tapping NVOCCs for help in steering their cargos through troubled waters.
As the Puget Sound Business Journal reported last week, Expeditors moved a record amount of cargo – inbound and out – in November-December, up 9% from the same period in 2013. “We moved more containers than we have in our entire history in the fourth quarter,” Expeditors President and CEO Jeff Musser is quoted, crediting the company’s performance to the people who deliver its customer service. “We provide a much higher level of customer services. You can put everything on computers, but you still need people on the ground to make cargo move.”
The Datamyne NVOCC ranking report includes a breakout of each NVOCC’s TEUs carried by the top three ship lines in US imports: the MSC-Mediterranean, Maersk and Evergreen Lines. The report is issued quarterly. The yearend 2014 report can be downloaded from our free report library, where it is listed under Maritime sector Ranking reports.
