APL confirms plans to lay up vessels

APL confirms plans to lay up vessels American President Lines will begin to lay up some vessels in the next few days the company confirmed.
   APL’s capacity in the Asia/Europe trade would be reduced by nearly 25 percent, with about 20 percent of the company’s transpacific tonnage also to be removed from service, said Ron Widdows, chief executive officer of APL's parent, Neptune Orient Lines. Key changes are also underway in the intra-Asia trades, he added.

Widdows

   NOL earlier this week reported third quarter profit of $35 million, 82 percent less than in the same 2007 period, even as revenues grew 16 percent to $2.35 billion.
   While NOL has been profitable in the first three quarters of the year, “an operating loss is expected for the fourth quarter,” the company said. “The recent collapse in world financial markets and resulting global economic uncertainty can be expected to lead to lower demand for container shipping services and reduced shipment levels and vessel utilizations.'
   “We are acting quickly and decisively to trim capacity and reconfigure our service networks, adjusting port calls and service loops and withdrawing a number of vessels from service. These actions will reduce our costs and better align APL’s service networks to the lower demand levels currently being experienced,” Widdows said.
   “Despite the excellent progress made on fuel recovery, APL’s bottom line performance was affected by a materially different cost environment — particularly for fuel, which rose by 76 percent in the third quarter 2008 over the prior year,” he said.