AS the shipping industry grapples with the likelihood of 24,000-TEU container ships in the world fleet, carriers must choose between waking up to the excess of capacity driving down freight rates, or head deeper into the red with monster vessel purchases.
A report by the Medi Telegraph questioned whether carriers are tempting fate by ordering ever more gigantic ships on a scale never envisioned before.
Or will they sink along with the Titanic given that the largest ships are operating far below capacity, and the smallest ones are being scrapped at a swift pace? And how many carrier partners will it take to fill one of these monsters, analysts ask.
One in the shipping sector who spoke at the TOC Europe shipping conference in London, announced that South Korean shipyards are ready to build ships that can carry 24,000 TEU.
The first sheet metal for the construction of these gigantic hulls will be welded in 2016. Once built, these mega container carriers will be 430 metres long and 62m wide, with a draft of 16m.
According to analyst Andrew Penfold of Ocean Shipping Consultants, the relative costs of sailing a 24,000-TEU ship is 23.5 per cent lower than a 12,500-TEU vessel and 17.4 per cent lower than a 16,000-TEU ship.
Shipping agent Gianfranco Gazzolo pointed out, "These ships take 18-24 months to build, and the question is: will the terminals be able to prepare themselves in time?" to handle such mega vessels. Ports in Asia will struggle and are currently serving more and more as feeder hubs.
"In Europe there are only two or three ports that would be able to receive ships over 20,000 TEU. And there could be problems in the Far East, as well," he said.
"They'll build one (24,000-TEU ship), but then they'll see that it can't enter any ports and it will all end there.
They certainly won't come to Genoa, where the dock cranes have trouble unloading 7,000-TEU ships, but I fear that they will not be able to go to Rotterdam, either, and will have to be restricted to routes in Asia."
President of Assiterminal, the Italian terminal operators' association, Marco Conforti said, "No terminal will invest in hypothetical ships. A crane costs EUR10 million (US$13.6 million), and to unload a ship of this sort would require four cranes.
"Italian terminals are equipping themselves to receive the largest ships that are currently sailing (18,000 TEU ships)."
In Bologna, analysts fear the popping of the financial bubble in shipping could have repercussions for the rest of the economy.
PORTS
06 July 2014 - 17:00
Do 24,000-TEU ships work as ships are plenty, but ports, not?
AS the shipping industry grapples with the likelihood of 24,000-TEU container ships in the world fleet, carriers must choose between waking up to the excess of capacity driving down freight rates, or head deeper into the red with monster vessel purchases.
PORTS
06 July 2014 - 17:00
Do 24,000-TEU ships work as ships are plenty, but ports, not?
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