The need of the hour is consolidation of container ship lines order to regain profitability and to overcome financial struggles, consulting firm AlixPartners says in a new report. The report says that an increased supply of vessels, coupled with the introduction of giant ships, had met with a dwindling demand in the second half of last year resulting to overcapacity, low profitability and reduced cash flow. The shippers with “M&A on their minds need to be proactive” if they hope to reap the kind of rewards winners in consolidated industries enjoy—or to prevent becoming acquisition targets themselves, the consultants suggested, pointing to the successful consolidation of the US airline industry as a possible template to follow.