Maersk order caps big ship brigade

Maersk order caps big ship brigade    China Shipping in January unveiled the biggest containership to hit the seas in 2011, the 13,296-TEU CSCL Star, disrupting a five-year trend of the biggest containerships in operation being delivered to the fleets of Europe's Big 3 container lines — Maersk Line, Mediterranean Shipping Co. and CMA CGM.
   Since 2006, those three have accounted for all deliveries of ships larger than 10,000 TEUs, when the Emma Maersk and her sister ships redefined the idea of large. According to American Shipper research affiliate ComPair Data, 50 such ships have been delivered through 2010.
   Of those 50, 12 are in Maersk's fleet, 23 in MSC's and 15 in CMA CGM's. They range in size from CMA CGM's 10,960-TEU class of vessels to Maersk's Emma and sisters (rated at 14,781 TEUs by ComPair Data, Maersk said Feb. 22 the vessels have capacity for 15,500 TEUs). Hanjin Shipping has five and Zim and COSCO Container Lines each have four vessels right on the 10,000-TEU threshold.
         Of course, China Shipping's news was virtually swallowed up a few weeks later by Maersk, which earlier this week announced an order for 10 18,000-TEU vessels (an order than could balloon to 30 such vessels in all).
   For the time being, however, the entry of China Shipping's CSCL Star breaks up a statistical pattern. It also heralds a new age in which a handful of other carriers will introduce vessels larger than 10,000 TEUs:
   ' United Arab Shipping Co. is due to receive nine 13,000-TEU ships this year and next.
   ' APL will receive its first 10,000-TEU-plus vessels this year.
   ' Hapag-Lloyd will receive 10 13,000-TEU ships from mid-2012 through 2013.
   ' Seaspan Corp., the ship-leasing company, is reportedly on the verge of ordering 10 10,000-TEU ships — the Vancouver-based company has long chartered vessels to China Shipping, COSCO Container Lines and Hapag-Lloyd.
   That will present a huge change in the global fleet. According to ComPair Data, the largest ships among the top 10 carriers are:
   ' Maersk Line, 15,500 TEUs.
   ' MSC, 14,000 TEUs.
   ' CMA CGM, 13,830 TEUs.
   ' Evergreen, 8,073 TEUs.
   ' Hapag-Lloyd, 8,749 TEUs.
   ' CSAV, 6,589 TEUs.
   ' APL, 9,100 TEUs.
   ' COSCO, 10,050 TEUs.
   ' Hanjin Shipping, 10,050 TEUs.
   ' China Shipping, 13,296 TEUs.
   The large vessels are mostly employed on the Asia/Europe trade, the only lane that can accommodate such big ships both from a port infrastructure and demand perspective.
   MSC's huge influx of vessels with more than 10,000 TEUs of capacity has carried the Swiss line as close as anyone has come to Maersk since the Danish line acquired P&O Nedlloyd in 2005. According to maritime news service Alphaliner, MSC is also said to be ordering up to 12 wide-beam, reefer capacity-heavy, 9,000-TEU ships aimed at the growing Asia/East Coast South America trade (See ComPair Data Service Tracker commentary, 'Asia's emerging-to-emerging growth,').
   These larger, reefer-oriented vessels are another development worth watching. CSAV, Maersk and Hamburg S'd have vessels of 7,100 to 8,000 TEUs being delivered or due for delivery, all with extra reefer capacity to tap into South America lanes.
   But Maersk's order of mega Triple E-class vessels may reshape the market in much the same way its Emma-class vessels did five years ago. ' Eric Johnson