Asian lines lead capacity cull

Asian lines lead capacity cull    Asia-based container lines have been at the forefront of those scrapping or selling vessels, according to a note Monday from maritime news service Alphaliner.
   Seven Asian carriers tracked by Alphaliner — Hanjin Shipping, NYK Line, MOL, 'K' Line, Evergreen, Yang Ming and OOCL — have shed 282,000 TEUs of capacity, 155,000 TEUs through scrapping and 127,000 TEUs sold in the second-hand market.
   'The Asian carriers were not the only operators to be trimming their fleet. Among the other main carriers, CMA CGM, MSC and Maersk have also taken steps to dispose of parts of their fleets,' Alphaliner said. 'However, for most of the Asian carriers, the disposals were not compensated by the delivery of newbuildings or through chartering-in, as was the case for CMA CGM and MSC — resulting in a loss of market share. Also as percentage of the total owned fleet, the Asian carriers' disposals are significantly higher.'
   The effect of that shed capacity has meant that Evergreen has dropped out of the top four biggest carriers for the first time since the 1980s. The Taiwan-based line has dropped 34,000 TEUs in the past year and it remains the only carrier to have not a single ship on its order book.