[061013.EN.SEA] P3 Scheme Raises Concerns Over Fate of Smaller Ships Displacement

UNCERTAINTY surrounds the future deployment potential of postpanamax ships at the smaller end of ship sizes, as more and more larger units force out smaller vessels.

Randy Chen, special assistant to the president of Wan Hai Lines , suggested that the introduction of the P3 vessel-sharing alliance would work for the 14,000 plus TEU ships, but smaller vessels would face problems.

"What happens to the 8,000-TEU and 10,000-TEU ships that they [the container lines] originally had slated for their own services before they put them together?" Mr Chen said.

"Combined with the fact that in the past two or three years, the sector that ordered the most ships was in the 8,000 to 10,000-TEU segment," he told other panelists at Marine Money Asia's container shipping outlook session, reported Seatrade Global.

"From my perspective, it doesn't make any sense to order any ships."

Rickmers Trust Management CEO Thomas Preben Hansen defended the panamax sector after the earnings potential of smaller ships was largely dismissed by MC-Seamax Management managing director Kevin Kennedy.

Mr Kennedy said he was confident about the line's 16-strong panamax fleet. "At no point in the past five years have our charterers chosen to idle one of our ships, they have chosen to idle others, but never one of our panamaxes."

Macquarie Securities analyst Bonnie Chan said the P3 alliance would face a challenge in effectively combining their network routes for efficient movement, given that Maersk Line, CMA CGM and Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC) have different network hubs in each region.

Source : HKSG.