Over the past decades, the container transport industry has undergone tremendous changes. Sixty years ago, a truck from North Carolina delivered several trucks to a ship during World War II, opening the curtain on the evolution of container transport. Then came honeycomb ships, containers of various sizes, refrigerated containers, tank containers and frame containers. From the original 500 TEU container ship to the latest 22 000 TEU container behemoth, the hardware equipment has undergone radical changes.

Similarly, the pattern of container transport industry has changed significantly. You may also be able to distinguish the core players in the industry from those in the past. There are no more than one of the nine major shipping companies flying the American flag, one of the six major Japanese shipping companies, namely ONE, six major South American shipping companies, and only five of the thirteen European flag shipping companies.

Admittedly, there are other shipping companies rising, such as Mediterranean shipping, Da Flying Ship, COSCO Shipping, Changrong Shipping, Yangming Shipping and modern merchant ships. But the industry that used to be composed of 15-20 major players has now become dominated by five top companies, which control 65% of the world's power.

The services provided by global freight forwarders have also changed. In the past, only from ports to ports, there are now multimodal transport, railway yard and door Trailer services, which were originally provided in North America, and now are all over the world. Usually, a company creates a model that other peers will follow in terms of equipment and services. The reason why other companies adopt innovative models quickly is because of the competitive nature of business.

Now we are entering the next stage of industry evolution, and the conventional way of doing things has been broken. Three new business models are developing. Two major shipping giants have realized that maintaining the status quo is not a viable business model, because their hard work has not received the reward they deserve. Maersk and Da Flyboats opened the first innovative business model and are moving towards integrated logistics and/or supply chain service providers. They have seen the rise of many similar companies, which do not need a lot of capital, but have the ability to make money in almost any market, which Daffy and Maersk have been unable to sustain in the shipping industry.

These light asset companies have done what shipping companies have always wanted to do but have not done, and they have made more money while expanding their market share. Shipping companies will have to pay a high price if they want to occupy a higher market share among their peers. As a result, they lost their share to light assets companies. Business schools around the world may spend years studying the underlying causes and giving easy "what can't do" models. So Daffy and Maersk decided to explore new business models themselves.

The second emerging model has existed since the beginning of the development of container transport industry, but the characters who play the leading role have changed. Decades ago, many large gathering companies were state-owned or financially supported by the state, mainly to protect the local market and obtain foreign exchange. Now this model still exists. There are still many shipping companies that are state-owned or financially supported by the state. There are also strong support from manufacturing and agriculture. These entities may or may not be for profit. Once the state decides to stop the infusion of funds, most of the affiliated shipping companies in these entities will face bankruptcy or sale. But some Asian countries are still willing to maintain this model.

The third emerging model is to invest in the cruise industry, such as Mediterranean Shipping, the world's second largest shipping company, which has invested billions of dollars to develop the cruise industry. If you think it's too wasteful to spend $175 million to build a 20,000 TEU container ship, try building a floating city that can accommodate 5,000 passengers, each of which costs $700 million, let alone a dozen. But there are also several shipping companies that have decided not to go overboard.

What inspiration do you get from reading these? In fact, it depends on their identities and interests. Today's marine situation is no longer what it was 20 years ago. The new shipping mode will bring different opportunities and challenges. Now is the time to start thinking about ways to deal with them.