New Report on Freight Capacity Utilization

Capacity utilization analysis is a critical factor in determining both long-term contract freight rates & short-term spot rates for fully cellular vessels.

PIERS announce it has issued an exclusive report titled "The PIERS Capacity Utilization Report: Full year, 2011 vs. 2010." Capacity utilization refers to the load factor of matching ocean carrier supply with shipper demand. Efficient matching of supply and demand requires accurate and up-to-date market information which is provided by this report.

Data shows that aboard fully cellular vessels, total international container trade volume inched up by just 2.3 percent while net additions to capacity amounted to 8.1 percent. The differential left the bi-directional average load factor depressed by 3.5 percentage points to 62.8 percent in nominal rated capacity terms. The supply/demand imbalance was sufficient to cap the growth of freight rates in the spot market and pose more financial trouble for carriers.

The report further shows that for imports, the inbound container trade market suffered from weak US demand throughout 2011. The volume of trade inched forward by just 1.2 percent while containership capacity was higher by 6.2 percent. The resulting supply and demand gap pushed the 2011 average load factor down to 67.6 percent from 70.9 percent achieved in 2010.

On the export side, the load factor aboard fully cellular containerships serving outbound trade lanes achieved an average of 56.8 percent in 2011, a sharp fall from the 60.3 percent average rate posted in 2010. Overseas demand for US containerized goods increased by 4.1 percent during the year but suppliers added 10.6 percent more slots. Although there was some limited relief in the last quarter of 2011, load factors were depressed for the majority of 2011 as operators were caught with too much supply amid dwindling demand.

A complimentary copy of the report is available here.