Container gain ground in reefer trade

   A new report by Drewry Maritime Research projects that by 2014, about 74 percent of reefer cargo will move on containerships instead of purpose-built breakbulk reefer vessels.
    Drewry’s latest Reefer Shipping Market Annual Review and Forecast 2011/12, said 12-month charter rates for conventional reefer ships continue to fall after a 10 percent drop in 2010, no new reefer ships are on order, and an average of 36 reefer ships were scrapped annually from 2008 to 2010. Nineteen were scrapped in the first half of 2011, and Drewry projects the fleet will decline from 691 today to 476 by 2015.
    “Worldwide trade in perishable products continued to increase in 2010, with seaborne trade following suit, so demand for reefer capacity is still inherently strong. The mode of transport is the factor that continues to change the industry,” Drewry said.
    But “many trades are ideally suited to specialized reefer services and it is these that will ensure its continuing — and profitable — future, albeit on a smaller scale than in previous years,” Drewry added.