Less room for smaller, older ships: Andy Tung

Less room for smaller, older ships: Andy Tung

The ceo of Hong Kong containerline OOCL has spoken about creeping obsolescence in the liner trades.

Speaking at the Sea Asia conference in Singapore, Andy Tung said: "Smaller ships will find it hard to compete in long haul." The new generation of ships built with slow speed requirements in mind “creates a gap”, Tung reckoned.

“I think the older ships perhaps will have an even harder time from the perspective of employment opportunities, because the gap is bigger and now you have the different design predicated on slower speed, which adds to the challenges for the smaller ships," he maintained.

Tung reckoned cascading of ships to regional trades would happen, but he cautioned: “I do think that some of the older smaller ships will have to take a look at how you justify continued employment within a liner like ours. We certainly have smaller ships and on shorter hauls there are still opportunities, where energy differential is not quite so extreme."

 Tung said the whole industry is moving together on slow steaming, with shippers not asking for higher speed services. Finishing up, Tung turned his attention to the Chinese economy. "China is still very competitive,” he said, “if you look at the volumes of exports versus any other Asian countries – there is an infrastructure and supply which is very well established in China which is not very well replicated.”  

Sea Asia is co-organised by Seatrade and the Singapore Maritime Foundation.