Report confirms wisdom of big ship orders

DESPITE MUCH criticism,
there is numerical justification
for shipowners ordering more
and even larger container
ships, according to the Dutchbased
shipping consultancy,
Dynamar.
This as lines move further
and faster into very large
container ships (VLCS) of over
7 500-teu capacity; and ultra
large container ships (ULCS)
larger than 10 000-teu.
Dynamar’s figures show
that, if all these container
“superships” are actually built,
there will be more than 170
container vessels averaging
12 500-teu around by 2012.
But, said the report,
“container liner operators
have often been blamed
rather than praised for their
wisdom in ordering yet more
and ever larger box ships”.
However, it appears that,
since the turn of the 21st
century, joint carryings across
the globe by the world’s 25
largest shipping companies
have not only kept pace - but
have increased even faster
than the teu capacity of the
ships they deploy. “By 7%
to be precise,” according to
Dynamar.
All the big ships on order
will be exclusively deployed
by the Top 25 carriers, and an
index – dubbed the “Cap/Car
Ratio” – seems to prove them
right in their “supership”
ambitions.
Since December 31, 1999
(with a base ratio of 100), the
Top 25’s joint full container
liftings have grown at an
indexed value of 168, whereas
their container carrying
capacity reached 156 points
at the end of 2006. This,
Dynamar added, resulted in
an indexed carryings/capacity
growth ratio of 107 points,
reaching a highpoint in 2004
at 111, and a low in 2002 of
105.
In the same six-year
period, their joint fleet
capacity increased from
3.8-million TEUs to 8.8-m,
and the average vessel size
from 2 000 to 2 850 teus.
And, although these
figures are all derived from
the Top 25 carriers, this is the
vast majority of the word’s
containerised seafreight
market.
NOTE: All the information
in this article has been
derived from the justpublished
7th edition of
Dynamar’s annual report:
“Top 25 (2007) Container
Liner Operators – Trading
Profiles”.
Top 25 container liner operators (including their
subsidiaries) account for:
● 80% of the global full container trade;
● 85% of the world container-capable fleet
operating in liner services; and
● 88% of the total orderbook of cellular container
capacity of all sizes.