Box blues

There is a crisis on the boxship front with up to 60 ships out of work as the slump bites hard.
Up to 60 containerships are unemployed around the world as demand dries up from beleaguered carriers.
Hamburg-based market sources estimate that some 50 to 60 boxships of all sizes are likely to be looking for charters by the end of this week. Others quote a lower number of vessels but using a capacity cut-off of 1,000 teu.
However, vessels up to 3,500 teu are joining the queue for business and some analysts forecast that slowing trade will hit even the biggest ships next year with up to 70 of 6,000 teu to 9,000 teu possibly surplus to demand.
"Overall, the build-up of spot or very prompt tonnage continues with [more than]35 vessels above 1,000 teu in this position worldwide," said London's Braemar Seascope Containers in its latest weekly report.
Other brokers contacted by TradeWinds came up with a similar number of 35 ships bigger than 1,000 teu immediately available without employment. The numbers include half-a-dozen available as sublets.
"Some ships have been waiting for quite a long time," added one broker with most sources pointing to the heaviest pressure on vessels of around 1,700 teu.
Unusually, bigger ships are suffering as well. "The 3,000-teu geared Wadi Alrayan (built 2000) has been without business in the Mediterranean for six weeks," said Hamburg-based shipbroker Harper Petersen in a report. The 3,400-teu Johannesburg (built 2006) was another ship said to be seeking a charter this week.
And AXS-Alphaliner estimated: "Between 60 to 70 ships of 6,000 teu to 9,000 teu could be surplus to demand if world seaborne trade stagnates, before allowance for extra slow steaming." ( see story, right ).
Crashing freight markets are largely to blame for a lack of fixing appetite. Fast-falling cargo rates and volumes on the once mighty Asia-to-Europe trade "have led more operators to curtail or halt services, meaning many potential charter requirements can be covered internally as the lines reshuffle their deployment and more relets come to the market seeking employment," Braemar Seascope said ( see story, page 14 ).
Freight rates had started to recover slightly on the Asia-to-Europe trade but spot prices have nosedived below $400 per teu again to lows of $350 reported in some cases as a rate-war intensifies over falling volumes. Insiders describe the rates as suicidal and without precedent.
Brokers say hopes of an autumn pick-up for the Christmas shipping and shopping period can be largely forgotten as carriers would have to be fixing ships by now to get them in place in time.
Many ships are being fixed for periods of just a few days to weeks and are therefore in and out of work at different times. Some of those handed back by China's Shandong Yantai International Marine Shipping (SYMS) in late August are said to still be idle or taking short-term jobs.
Charter rates for 1,700-teu ships have been hit hardest by the lack of employment. Levels are slipping down below $12,000 per day with that figure quoted for a 12-month fixture of the 1,675-teu ACX Magnolia (built 1998) by TSK Line. The rate is down some 33% in the past five months including a $1,250-per-day drop in the past 30 days.
Vessels in the 1,100-teu category had stood up better than bigger boxships, despite a large number being handed back, but rates are now dropping below $10,000 per day down $1,500 in the past month. French giant CMA CGM is said to have extended the Delmas Maroc (built 2006) for six months at $9,700 per day.
By Paul Berrill, London