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TWSJ.: A storm is gathering over container shipping
Eastern Railroad Discussion > WSJ: Storms clouds ahead for container ship imports?
Date: 03/03/19 10:31
WSJ: Storms clouds ahead for container ship imports?
Author: Lackawanna484
The Wall Street Journal has an article about the concerns many shipping companies have about supply of ships (rising) and demand for cargo (falling) as the cost of fuel is rising. The trade conflicts, slowing demand, and too many new ships has caused concern in many places. In the US, many containers are repackaged near a port, and dispatched by rail.
Container ship operators see growth dropping by 2/3, to about 1% in 2019, but see fuel costs rising as new requirements kick in. Some of these fuel rules will send older ships to the boneyards, but that won't make a big impact on the new ships being delivered. Ships designed for the new Panama Canal are making fewer port calls (concentrating their deliveries), which complicates the issues on some ports that are skipped. One ship broker sees cargo growth of 2-3% over the next few years, with cargo capacity growing at 5% annually. Much of it in 22,000 box vessels.
It should be interesting to see how ports like Jacksonville, Charleston, Savannah, Brunswick, Baltimore, etc handle this situation. They've spent heavily to deepen channels, and improve access, will their specialized freight (car import / export, paper pulp, scrap, etc) be sufficient to carry their business if they lose the box trade?
https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-storm-is-gathering-over-container-shipping-11551612600
Date: 03/03/19 10:31
WSJ: Storms clouds ahead for container ship imports?
Author: Lackawanna484
The Wall Street Journal has an article about the concerns many shipping companies have about supply of ships (rising) and demand for cargo (falling) as the cost of fuel is rising. The trade conflicts, slowing demand, and too many new ships has caused concern in many places. In the US, many containers are repackaged near a port, and dispatched by rail.
Container ship operators see growth dropping by 2/3, to about 1% in 2019, but see fuel costs rising as new requirements kick in. Some of these fuel rules will send older ships to the boneyards, but that won't make a big impact on the new ships being delivered. Ships designed for the new Panama Canal are making fewer port calls (concentrating their deliveries), which complicates the issues on some ports that are skipped. One ship broker sees cargo growth of 2-3% over the next few years, with cargo capacity growing at 5% annually. Much of it in 22,000 box vessels.
It should be interesting to see how ports like Jacksonville, Charleston, Savannah, Brunswick, Baltimore, etc handle this situation. They've spent heavily to deepen channels, and improve access, will their specialized freight (car import / export, paper pulp, scrap, etc) be sufficient to carry their business if they lose the box trade?
https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-storm-is-gathering-over-container-shipping-11551612600
