CSAV restructure will lay off 700 staff

The plan, which was initiated in June, will see CSAV scale back its operated capacity by 38% by 2012. CSAV expects to operate 362,000 teu next year, compared to 587,000 teu at its peak in March 2011. If it maintains these planned capacity reductions, CSAV will relinquish all the market share gains that it made in the last two years.

CSAV had expanded aggressively since late 2009, doubling its operated fleet capacity over the period, with its global rankings rising from 16th to 7th by the end of 2010, according to the Alphaliner carrier’s league. However, CSAV has given up much of the gains since June and currently ranks 14th after shedding 187,000 teu of capacity over the last eight months.

The carrier will restructure two thirds of its services, concentrating activities in markets where CSAV has competitive advantages, and intensify joint operations with other carriers. It has signed joint operations agreements with partners in five main trades.