Half of the refrigerated ship fleet worldwide is expected to vanish and replaced by containerships carrying refrigerated boxes, reported London’s Financial Times.
“In 10 years’ time the overall world fleet might only be half of what it is today,” said managing director of Seatrade Yntze Buitenwerf.
Since containers are easier and cheaper to load, unload and be delivered by trucks, trains and ships, nearly all manufactured and semi-finished goods are shipped in containers now instead of being consigned in conventional vessels.
“The obvious advantages of container shipping are the same for general cargo as for reefer cargo,” said global head of ocean freight for Ceva, a Dutch logistics company, Dominik Tichelkamp.
Many carriers, such as Denmark’s Maersk, have launched services between the southern and northern hemispheres, which have been reefers’ strengths, implying that the latter is losing ground to containers.
Maersk’s new vessel fleet running on north-south loops has been equipped with 1,700 refrigerated containers.
Singapore’s APL also said that it has won business from reefer ships delivering bananas, one of the latest batches of reefer produce to be switched into containers.
“In certain areas, the conversion is already under way,” said APL’s vice president for global reefer trade Eric Eng.
But Mr Buitenwerf believed reefer ships would not be supplanted because they are still useful to deliver sensitive cargo that cannot be shipped by containers.
Source: London Financial Times
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