INTRA-ASIA ships are more likely to put on speed in the second quarter than remove vessels to boost rates as they should, says Baltic and International Maritime Council's (BIMCO) chief analyst Peter Sand.
"Lower fuel costs may prompt some ships on shorter trades to go faster as the cost has come down. But the oversupply of the market is felt immediately in lower rates. "All know what to do, but want the others to do it," he said.
"Most of the idle fleet has been reactivated over the past six months, so all ships are more or less working right now," said Mr Sand, whose BIMCO organisation represents 65 per cent of world merchant shipping.
But widely expected higher cargo volumes on intra-Asia routes will not lead to higher rates he said. Excessive tonnage afloat will continue to bring pressures on intra-Asia shipping rates, he told Lloyd's Loading List.
Second quarter volumes on major Asia regional trunk routes would be higher, he said. "As compared to Q1, volumes are set to go up and this could be followed by higher freight rates if the supply side doesn't spoil it before it gets started," he said.
Mr Sand said intra-Asia trades had seen the average ship size increase considerably in recent years, but on many high-volume short runs put such pressure on terminals that they limit economies of scale benefits bigger ships are supposed to bring.
"The high volume trade between China and Japan have seen rates collapse," he said. "Other trades like Shanghai to Australia/New Zealand are at five-year low levels. Shanghai to Lagos and Shanghai to Hong Kong are the same," he said.
WORLD SHIPPING
27 April 2015 - 18:27
Intra-Asia ships to speed up as low oil cut costs: BIMCO analyst
INTRA-ASIA ships are more likely to put on speed in the second quarter than remove vessels to boost rates as they should, says Baltic and International Maritime Council's (BIMCO) chief analyst Peter Sand.
WORLD SHIPPING
27 April 2015 - 18:27
Intra-Asia ships to speed up as low oil cut costs: BIMCO analyst
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