Compliments of the season to everyone and trust your entry into 2015 has been good and wonderful..
What will happen in the world of shipping and freight in 2015..?? Well, 2015 looks set to be an interesting year for shipping and freight (the pundits say this every year), but this time around I think this might become true..
Why, you ask..
Well to start off with, there seems to be a new race on, something along the lines of “Mine’s bigger than yours”, in terms of ship sizes..
Since June 2013, Maersk Line, the world’s largest container line held the record for the world’s largest container ship with their Triple E series ships..
That record was broken in November 2014 by the CSCL Globe owned by China Shipping Container Line, the world’s 7th largest container line..
But not for long.. Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), the world’s 2nd largest container line is launching the new world’s largest container ship MSC Oscar in January 2015..
Let’s see for how long, because MOL is waiting in the wings with their promise to bring in 20,000 TEU ships which will then make their ship the world’s largest container ship..
As all these behemoths keep drifting in, another problem arises and that is how many ports around the world will have the crane capacity and port/yard space to handle these ships effectively.. These bigger ships and the large volume of containers that these ships carry is also threatening to bring port congestion, bottlenecks and associated handling delays into play..
Then we have the issue of the projected overcapacity as more than 1.9 million TEUs (that’s 11,400 kms worth of containers if placed end to end) is set to be added to the global container fleet in 2015..
All through this, the trade is expected to face more volatility in the freight rates that have been bubbling and boiling for quite a while and only the shipping lines and ship operators seem to know the formula..
Ok, lets leave these uncertain issues for a while and look at some things that will happen for sure..
There will be some changes on this blog as well and within the first quarter of 2015, I have a surprise for all of you, which I will advise in due course..
For this year I have planned many exciting new articles and discussions and with your support and participation, I hope that these articles and discussions will help everyone understand the workings within the shipping and freight industry..
Over this festive season, I noticed that there have been several newcomers to this blog who are also newcomers to the industry.. Its good to see that the industry and this blog is growing.. 🙂
To these newcomers (and also to the regular visitors), I would recommend that you read my article on How to use this Shipping and Freight Resource Blog effectively, so you can look for the information required quickly..
Looking forward to an exciting, interactive and participative new year 2015.. All the very best..
I appreciate and share your views that world’s leading shipping lines are competing with each other to deploy more bigger container ships in terms of TEU capacity in order to establish their supremacy in the maritime industry which will lead to over-tonnage in the global shipping trade. This new phenomena is likely to create new challenge to handle this extra large container ships as the existing important ports of the world may not have the space and handling facility in terms of shore crane & other necessary equipment facility.
As per your declaration, waiting to read your exciting articles which are planning to publish during 2015. Thanks
Looks like a race to me, but obviously there is a good reason, why they are building such large ships. They have to be more efficient. And then bigger the ship the bigger the profit would be. Nice post, thanks for sharing.