Container Lines to Add Record Capacity in 2013

 

By Kyunghee Park

     May 31 (Bloomberg) -- Container lines plan to add a record amount of capacity in 2013, outpacing growth in demand for shipping services, which may drive maritime-transport rates lower, according to NH Investment & Securities Co.

     The CHART OF THE DAY shows that the capacity of the global container-shipping fleet may increase by a net 1.9 million boxes in 2013 if all options and letters of intent for new vessels are exercised, according to Alphaliner. That would expand the fleet by 11 percent, the fastest annual increase in five years, according to the Paris-based maritime data provider.

     “We may have to start worrying about overcapacity again,”

said Jee Heon Seok, an NH Investment analyst in Seoul.

“Shipping lines have rushed to make orders before ship prices increase, and they seem to have forgotten about the consequences they could face when the vessels are delivered.”

     A.P. Moeller-Maersk A/S will contribute to the capacity jump in 2013 as it will begin receiving 10 18,000-container ships that will be among the largest afloat. In total, maritime- transport lines have placed $18.8 billion of orders for container vessels since January 2010, according to Alphaliner.

Orders surged as shipbuilders cut prices following a slump that began in 2008 with the global recession.

     Shipyards’ firm orders for 2013 deliveries totaled 1.59 million boxes as of May 25, according to Alphaliner. A ship that can carry 8,800 containers was worth $93 million at the end of April, compared with $137 million for an 8,100-box ship at the end of June 2008, according to data from shipbroker Clarkson Plc.

     Taipei-based Evergreen Group this month ordered 10 8,000- container vessels from Taiwanese shipbuilder CSBC Corp., with deliveries to begin in the third quarter of 2013 or earlier.

Neptune Orient Lines Ltd. is due to receive 10 vessels that year. Lessor Seaspan Corp. is in talks with builders in South Korea and China on orders for as many as 30 vessels, some of which may be handed over in 2013, according to Alphaliner.