HONG KONG's Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) has declared that the 8-month-old and much ballyhooed freight rate derivative market is of doubtful value, said corporate planning Stephen Ng.
After looking at container derivatives, the company concluded that the swaps were "not beneficial". This follows a similar lack of interest from Maersk, APL and Zim.
Mr Ng said OOCL felt "one rate for all" was not feasible in container shipping despite claims that swaps useful as a risk management tool.
He said the container market was more complex and fragmented than the bulk market and that costs had to include surcharges to cover changing costs beyond carriers' control, such as bunker and currency fluctuations.
Chilean container shipping line CSAV differed from the others and were the first major carrier to make a trade. Salesmen remain hopeful that Asian carriers will eventually embrace the idea and claim that real liner interest is evident despite their public stance to the contrary.
Eng Aik Meng, president of Neptune Orient Lines' (NOL) container shipping arm APL told London's Lloyd's List that it would not participate in container swaps.
"The problem with a lot these things is that it becomes not so much a commercial instrument but a financial instrument, " Mr Eng said. "Our job is to provide a delivery solution to customers. That's what we do best."
The first container freight swap agreement was traded in January between Morgan Stanley and shipowner Delphis. Trades are based on the Shanghai Shipping Exchange's Shanghai Containerised Freight Index, which provides an opportunity to hedge freight rates on major container routes from China.
Source : HKSG, 24.08.10.
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