[030317.EN.BIZ] Copy Maersk's Tactics And Defer New Ship Deliveries To Ease Overcapacity: Drewry

TO ease the container shipping industry's chronic over capacity situation with 1.6 million TEU of newbuild capacity due for delivery this year, Drewry analysts recommend that shipping lines follow in Maersk Line's footsteps by negotiating the postponement of new vessel deliveries.

The shipping line is delaying the 2017 delivery of nine 14,000 TEU ships by a year, AP Moller Maersk announced during its 2016 results presentation. Group CFO Jakob Stausholm said: "We have managed to delay delivery at no cost, and operationally it actually fits us quite okay."

Said Drewry: "To ensure that the nascent recovery of the market is not scuppered, carriers need to smooth the supply-side pressures as much as possible, by deferring new ships and scrapping more existing units."

Drewry says there is a "window of opportunity" to push back the dates given that shipyard orderbooks are practically empty, a move that might even be in the best interest of the yards as well.

Maersk Line's 2M partner MSC, on the other hand, is continuing to receive new tonnage as per the delivery schedule, reported London's Loadstar.

The carrier has just taken delivery of the 19,472-TEU MSC Rifaya, and will receive two more 19,500-TEU ships by the end of March, all of which will be deployed between Asia and North Europe.

A pause in the delivery of new tonnage, coupled with a continued acceleration in the scrapping of older units, could help to address the idled tonnage problem of currently 340 ships, or 1.3 million TEU, representing 6.5 per cent of the global container shipping fleet.

According to London shipbroker Braemar ACM, containership scrapping reached a new record in 2016 of 189 demolitions for 658,000 TEU. So far this year, 56 vessels, totalling 185,500 TEU, have been sent to the breakers' yards.

Source : HKSG.