Liners rely more heavily on box lessors

Liners rely more heavily on box lessors    Leasing companies purchased the majority of containers manufactured in 2010, and will probably buy as many this year, according to the Institute of International Container Lessors.
   The IICL said that lessors spent more than $4 billion for more than 1.6 million TEUs of the 2.75 million TEUs that were added to the world container fleet in 2010. Those numbers include standard and refrigerated containers and other sorts of specialized containers such as open-tops and flat racks.
   'While many of the ocean carriers, the primary providers of containers in international trades, were concentrating their efforts on their core service activities, they turned to the international container leasing companies to source a significant portion of their container needs,' said Steven R. Blust, IICL president.
   Ocean carriers have historically sourced more than half of their container fleets through direct purchases from container manufacturers but leaned more heavily on the leasing industry in 2010.
   According to Containerization International, up to 3.5 million TEUs of containers are expected to be constructed this year and in 2012 a record 4.3 million TEUs could be built to meet ocean carrier growth requirements, and replace older equipment.
   It’s not exactly clear how many of those boxes will be ordered by leasing companies this year and in 2012 since containers are ordered only months ahead of time, not years in advance as ships are.

Blust

   “From what I understand from our members, they are optimistic the vessel operators will continue to ask for boxes from container companies. It looks like it will be as strong as it was last year,” Blust said. Leasing companies “are prepared to provide it, make that investment and make the equipment available.”
   Containers are generally leased to liner companies from three to eight years, and while Blust did not have exact numbers, he said it seems the average lease length may be increasing.
   “That will provide a little more stable platform for everybody, a little more certainty on both sides of a lease,” he said.
   Financial news service Bloomberg has devised the U.S. Container Leasing Index, which tracks the stock prices of four publicly traded container leasing companies: Textainer Group Holdings Ltd., TAL International Group, CAI International Inc. and SeaCube Container Leasing Ltd. That index has been climbing since March 2009. ' Chris Dupin