Denmark’s Maersk Line unveiled the world’s biggest container ship on Friday, hoping a new fleet of super-size vessels will deliver savings and return it to profit in an industry battered by overcapacity, weak economies and cut-throat competition. At a ceremony in the South Korean shipyard where the vessel was built, Maersk Line, a unit of oil and shipping group A.P. Moller-Maersk, named the 55,000-tonne ship “Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller” after the son of the group’s founder. With a length equivalent to four football pitches, the $185-million (U.S.) ship is the first of 20 to be delivered to Maersk Line over the coming years to replace older, smaller vessels. The delivery could hardly come at a worse time in the industry. Freight rates for transporting standard 20-foot containers from ports in Asia to Europe have plunged 60 per cent since mid-March as a result of a price war between the world’s biggest container shipping companies, led by Maersk Line. The tough environment has put cost cuts and economies of scale in focus. The new mega-size vessels, which were ordered by Maersk well before the latest plunge in freight rates, are 400 metres long and 59 metres wide, giving them the capacity to transport 18,270 20-foot containers. They are expected to operate on the loss-making but crucial Asia to Europe route – the world’s biggest trade lane and also the most important for Maersk Line. Maersk Line expects it will consume approximately 35-per-cent less fuel per 20-foot container with the new ships, compared with the 13,100 20-foot container vessels being delivered to rivals in the next few years. The company, which moves 20 per cent of container cargo from Asia to Europe and 18 per cent the other way, dismissed fears the new ships might add to pressure on container freight rates. Maersk Line will take delivery of the first vessel on June 28 and the ship is expected to be put into service on July 15. The company, whose competitors include Swiss-based, privately-owned MSC, French-based CMA CGM and China’s COSCO Container Lines, will receive four more this year, while the remaining 15 will be delivered in 2014 and 2015.
Posted on: Sat, 15 Jun 2013 10:46:16 +0000
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