The number of ships, the share in world trade - such data are typically the focus when the Association of German Shipowners (VDR) describes the situation in the industry every year.

This year, three major topics competed for the most attention: the war in Ukraine, climate protection and the supply chain chaos that began with the corona pandemic.

"You have to say it clearly: Like everyone else, we are affected by the situation and not the cause," emphasized VDR Managing Director Martin Kröger even before he was questioned by the journalists invited to the video conference.

Susanne Preuss

Business correspondent in Hamburg.

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There is now a very prominent player on the subject.

Just the night before the VDR event, US President Biden also sharply criticized shipping in his State of the Union address: “During the pandemic, these foreign companies increased their prices by up to 1000 percent and made record profits.

Today I am announcing a crackdown on these companies that are so distressing to American businesses and consumers.”

The competitive advantages of the three global shipping line alliances, which were once founded in times of crisis, are now to be examined more closely in America.

The alliances include all the major container shipping companies in the world, with American companies playing no role in this industry themselves.

In contrast, Germany is number two after China in container shipping.

Multiple problems

According to the White House, justifying the announced investigation, a profit of 190 billion dollars was made last year with container transport by ship.

This is an increase of seven times over the previous year and five times as much as was achieved in the entire period from 2010 to 2020.

She does not want to say anything about the "pending procedure", but it can be regulated with a cool head, explained VDR President Gaby Bornheim.

VDR Managing Director Martin Kröger was also relaxed, pointing out that the EU Commission had already confirmed several times that the behavior of the shipowners in their alliances was not anti-competitive.

"No shipping company in the world will allow itself to do that either," Kröger asserted: "The risks of such a violation would be enormous."

The VDR rejects the accusation, which has often been voiced publicly by customers, that shipowners are artificially reducing their supply in order to keep prices high.

It has been proven that only 2 percent of the ships are currently inactive, most of them are in shipyards, for example for maintenance or repair work.

According to the VDR President, the problems in the supply chains are still related to Corona.

The situation is currently difficult in Hong Kong and Singapore, in Japan and Korea.