Giant Ships to Rule World Seas
Megaships and large container ships are going to dominate the oceans calling for bigger changes in the shipping and port industry.
Reflect on recent news: Evergreen Group, one of Taiwan’s leading transport conglomerates, has agreed to charter 11 large ships as part of its efforts to expand capacity and raise the efficiency and economy of scale of its fleet.
Maersk Line is in early talks with Asian shipbuilders for an order of up to 10 container ships that would have capacities of up to 20,000 20-foot-equivalent units.
Japanese shipbuilder Imabari Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. says it has secured new building orders for 11 containerships with a TEU capacity of 20,000, marking the first-ever orders for ships that size.
According to a Drewry Maritime Research report from July 2014, MSC operates 696 ships above 10,000 TEU, Maersk operates 433, and CMA CGM Group has 363.
The world’s largest container ship with a capacity of 19,100 TEUs CSCL Globe on her maiden voyage to Rotterdam and Hamburg.
Industry watchers say the CSCL Globe is unlikely to retain its world’s-biggest title for long. Ships of up to 24,000 TEU would be viable with current Asia-Europe infrastructure. That would mean continued chronic overcapacity, and even more pressure on smaller shippers worldwide.
According to a report in Fortune, the efficiencies of the larger ships are a boon for individual shippers, and for the global environment. They consume as little as 50% of the fuel per container moved as older ships, while also more than halving insurance and staffing costs. A megaship requires the same 20-odd crew as a smaller ship but can carry three times the cargo.
But with big ships come big problems for world ports. Big ships prompt a wave of upgrades for the ports.
Ports face fierce competition and that the major change in the size of ships means increasing pressure to fund billions of dollars’ worth of improvements.
But with the increasing number of massive ships, the port has to modify its channels to be deeper, wider and clear higher stacks – and that costs big money.
With more containers on every ship, there’s also a push to increase how efficiently the containers are stacked.
No doubt, the shipping and port industries are getting ready for exciting times!
