SKY-ROCKETING freight rates across multiple trades have led to smaller containerships, considered uneconomical a year ago, coming back in vogue.
And with the unit cost barriers on the major tradelanes dismantled and service levels from established container lines at all-time lows, there are opportunities for niche carriers to break the stranglehold of the alliances.
One such is Taiwanese ocean carrier wan Hai, which has ordered more containerships in the last six months than any other carrier or non-operating owner (NOO), many of them 3,000 TEU or below, according to London's The Loadstar.
These sizes have seen some of the highest spikes in hire rates in the charter market, with reports of owners achieving in excess of US$100,000 a day, driven by a dearth of tonnage and a decade-long lack of newbuild investment in smaller containerships.
Wan Hai already boasts one of the highest owned-vessel ratios of all of its peers, at 57 per cent, and its orderbook of 63 per cent of its existing fleet is by far the highest.
According to Vesselsvalue data, the niche container line ordered 41 newbuilds in the first half of the year, just ahead of NOO Seaspan Corporation's 40 and almost double the nearest carriers, Evergreen and CMA CGM, which have each ordered 22.
However, while Seaspan and the liners have focused on ordering large ships, Wan Hai's 46 ships on order have an average 5,686 TEU, compared for example with Seaspan's average of 15,075 TEU and compatriot Evergreen's 15,818 TEU.
The carrier said it was part of its 'latest fleet renewal plan' to replace some of its 64 chartered-in ships and boost its 86-strong owned fleet.
Wan Hai's own ships consist of feedermax units of 1,068 TEU, up to post-panamaxes of 7,241 TEU, but it has not been tempted to follow the lead of other carriers to operate ever-larger vessels.
As a consequence, Wan Hai was pushed out of some trades, such as Asia-North Europe, due to the lower unit costs of the competition.
However, with freight rates from Asia to North Europe some 700 per cent higher than a year ago, capacity stretched to the limit and schedule reliability at an all-time low, there is speculation in the trade that Wan Hai could be preparing to re-enter the market next year.
SeaNews Turkey
And with the unit cost barriers on the major tradelanes dismantled and service levels from established container lines at all-time lows, there are opportunities for niche carriers to break the stranglehold of the alliances.
One such is Taiwanese ocean carrier wan Hai, which has ordered more containerships in the last six months than any other carrier or non-operating owner (NOO), many of them 3,000 TEU or below, according to London's The Loadstar.
These sizes have seen some of the highest spikes in hire rates in the charter market, with reports of owners achieving in excess of US$100,000 a day, driven by a dearth of tonnage and a decade-long lack of newbuild investment in smaller containerships.
Wan Hai already boasts one of the highest owned-vessel ratios of all of its peers, at 57 per cent, and its orderbook of 63 per cent of its existing fleet is by far the highest.
According to Vesselsvalue data, the niche container line ordered 41 newbuilds in the first half of the year, just ahead of NOO Seaspan Corporation's 40 and almost double the nearest carriers, Evergreen and CMA CGM, which have each ordered 22.
However, while Seaspan and the liners have focused on ordering large ships, Wan Hai's 46 ships on order have an average 5,686 TEU, compared for example with Seaspan's average of 15,075 TEU and compatriot Evergreen's 15,818 TEU.
The carrier said it was part of its 'latest fleet renewal plan' to replace some of its 64 chartered-in ships and boost its 86-strong owned fleet.
Wan Hai's own ships consist of feedermax units of 1,068 TEU, up to post-panamaxes of 7,241 TEU, but it has not been tempted to follow the lead of other carriers to operate ever-larger vessels.
As a consequence, Wan Hai was pushed out of some trades, such as Asia-North Europe, due to the lower unit costs of the competition.
However, with freight rates from Asia to North Europe some 700 per cent higher than a year ago, capacity stretched to the limit and schedule reliability at an all-time low, there is speculation in the trade that Wan Hai could be preparing to re-enter the market next year.
SeaNews Turkey