Page 20 - LUA March-April 2025

INTERVIEW
TRADE WILL
CONTINUE TO
HAPPEN, KEY
CONTINUES TO
BE DEMAND:
ROELOFFS
Tariffs, no tariffs, Trump or geopolitics, global trade will continue
to flow despite uncertainties. All depends on demand and
capacity to move goods profitably (or even at a loss), according
to Christian Roeloffs, Founder and CEO, Container xChange.
While all the moves in the container shipping industry in 2025
will largely be driven by developments in the Suez Canal, other
factors will also play key roles in shaping the mode that moves
around 80 percent of world trade volume. Container xChange
recently made its data available free to customers in a bid to
ease trade worries and make the right connections globally.
Edited excerpts from an interview with Jyothi Shankaran.
18 LUA
free for customers?
?
What were the key reasons for
Container xChange to make data
It's very important to stay very close
to the market to understand where
the market is headed. Our customers
and, of course, other related industry
stakeholders need to understand the
expectations by businesses etc. That was
the key reason for our decision to free
up data.
?
What are the significant challenges
Finding the right partners and finding
for the container industry in 2025?
the right network remains the biggest
challenge. I think that's even more
important now... in order to be able to
prepare and create resilience against
market uncertainties that will for sure
and for certain come this year.
Be it tariff wars, be it geopolitical
uncertainties, be it inflation, be it... I
don't know, a reshuffling of container
shipping alliances. So there's a lot
of uncertainty, and businesses have