OCEAN carriers are bracing for
muted demand during the usual peak shipping season heading into the fall, with
supply chains still rattled by the Coved pandemic and retailers in the US and
Europe reining in, reports the Wall
Street Journal.
Copenhagen's
SeaIntelligence Consulting
says the cancellations equate to the withdrawal of more than four million TEU
of capacity and that carriers have continued to drop departures scheduled for
the third quarter, signaling expectations of continued weak demand by major
Western importers.
"Fears of a virus resurgence
means retailers will bring in only what they know they can sell," said SeaIntelligence CEO Lars
Jensen. "There is a muted run-up
to Black Friday in the US that kicks off the holiday shopping and we expect
container volumes to be down 10 per cent overall this year. There is no peak
season, just fleet management to cut costs."
The summer months are when
shipping activity picks up, but widespread store closings under lockdowns have
battered demand and crashed traditional planning for the fall.
The 17.7 per cent month-to-month
increase in retail sales in the US in May still left overall sales below
pre-pandemic levels, and the retail inventories-to-sales ratio in April soared
to 1.68, the highest level since 1996 and an indication that warehouses across
the country were bursting with merchandise.
In the European Union, retail
trade fell 11.1 per cent in April from March, according to Eurostat. Retailers
are also dealing with supply chains that have been scrambled by the virus. Some
deliveries have been delayed by up to two months because factories in China and
elsewhere were mostly closed in March and April.
"We've just opened after
three months and we are getting deliveries of spring apparel," said Varvara
Petridi, who owns two high-end fashion shops in Athens.
"We've got lots of unsold
light suits and dresses, but no bathing suits, sandals and towels. They'll come
in August, if we are still in business. It's a disaster."
Korea's HMM has the highest proportion
of idled vessels among the carriers.
Alphaliner data showed HMM has
almost 200,000 TEU currently idled, amounting to 32.9 per cent of its fleet,
but this is still far below the number of Maersk and MSC idle ships.
Said Alphaliner: "2M partners
Maersk and MSC account for the bulk of the inactive fleet, with a combined
total of 854,000 TEU.
"However, more than half of
this vessel inactivity is due to scrubber installations. MSC in particular
still has a significant part of its fleet undergoing retrofit work at shipyards
in China and Turkey," said Alphaliner.
Source : HKSG.
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