The lead time for ordering newbuildings has become so long that container carriers are being forced into ordering "now" so that they can remain competitive into the future, according to one senior industry executive.
According to the industry source, yard space is being utilised by large orders for LNG gas carriers, which can take up to twice the amount of time in drydock as conventional vessels.
“Drydocks are the bottlenecks for shipyards, with most ships taking 50-60 days in the drydock phase before moving to the fitting out berth, but LNG carriers can use up to 100 days in the drydock phase,” said the executive.
Ships ordered today would not be delivered until 2029, which puts vessel operators in a catch-22 situation. They must order vessels or fall behind their competitors, but they must also decide which fuel to use. This is the dilemma facing shipowners, who must decide today what their strategy will be in five years’ time.
A senior executive of a major classification company said: “Many slots are being allocated to gas carriers, in a major order by Qatar, and these ships take twice as long in drydock than other ships.”
According to the source, even the opening of new yards will not relieve the pressure on shipyards because they do not have sufficient skilled labour to fill the positions.
“In Korea there are 6,000 vacancies for welders,” said the source. “And they are paying welders a lot more money now, not because they are making so much money, but because they must keep the staff. Some yards are even holding on to staff qualifications so that they cannot leave.”
Speaking off the record, the executive said that while conventional vessels spend around 50-60 days in drydock, the time scale for the construction of Q-Max and other LNG carriers fitted with complex containment systems is double the time for other vessels, which effectively halves the capacity for a drydock, for the period of gas carrier construction, effectively reducing yard capacity and adding to yard congestion and newbuilding backlogs.
Without wanting to name an operator, the source said that some liner operators had decided to aim for lower carbon fuels rather than operate on ‘transitional’ fuels such as LNG. However, they have had to change their strategy or risk falling behind their major competitors.
Early last month, Maersk announced it was putting its fleet renewal programme of 50-60 ships of 800,000 TEUs.
Maersk said, “The exact split of propulsion technologies will be determined considering the future regulatory framework and green fuels supply. Maersk has commenced the work of securing offtake agreements for liquified bio-methane (bio-LNG) to ensure that the new dual-fuel gas vessels provide greenhouse gas emissions reductions in this decade.”
The Danish ocean carrier had originally said it would prefer to move direct to low or zero carbon fuels, and had ruled out ordering LNG, dual fuel vessels.
A Maersk spokesman said that the company’s position remained the same, that LNG was not the answer to the decarbonisation issue.
“Our overall position on LNG has not changed: LNG is a fossil fuel; LNG is methane, which is a very potent greenhouse gas, particularly short-term. Fossil LNG can only contribute with modest (10-15%) GHG savings on a lifecycle basis when used as marine fuel in the engine types with the lowest methane slip, but it is not a solution to the problem. While we can consider LNG as an alternative to fossil bunker fuel, it is not an alternative to any green fuel,” commented the spokesman.
Nevertheless, Maersk also acknowledged that LNG is a “potent greenhouse gas”, but added: “We see promising developments for availability of liquified bio-methane (also known as bio-LNG), though its full scaling abilities are yet to be seen. By diversifying our fleet of dual-fuel vessels, we gain technical and commercial knowledge and experience across multiple future fuel pathways, and we strengthen the toolkit that will lead us towards our near-term 2030 SBTi-validate targets.”
![Container lines fight for yard slots](/Images/Post/cd8089bd-8014-4158-836d-758ef92c7dcc_f025ba84-b054-4fd8-890b-ab88c3d8a852.jpg?width=700)
Компания "KAFA TRANS COMPANY" LLC предлагает грузоперевозки по направлениям
Грузия-Армения-Грузия.
Армения-Россия-Армения.
Армения-СНГ-Армения.
Армения-Иран-Армения (в том числе из. Бендер-Аббаса в Армению и Грузию)
Армения-Иран -Россия.
Армения-Европа-Армения,
По Армении.
В наличии машины разного обьема и грузоподьемности рефы до 1,3 т, 2.2 т, 3,0 т, 5,3 т, 7,5 т, 9.3 т, 12 т и фуры реф и тент 22 т. Также шаланды для перевозки по Армении труб. Арматуры. Древесины и других подобных грузов
Предлагаем автовозы для перевозки автомобилей из Поти в Армению.
Предлагаем контейнерные перевозки грузов из Поти и Батуми в Армению и в обратном направлении
Предлагаем грузоперевозки из Хоргоса (граница Казахстана с Китаем) через Иран в Армению. Грузию в том числе доставка автовозами автомобилей.
Предлагаем ж/д сухопутные контейнерные перевозки грузов из Китая в Иран. Дальше контейнеры грузятся на контейнеровозы и доставляются в Армению (весь путь контейнер доствляется без перекидок)
Скорость доставки грузов при такой перевозке намного быстрее.
Для получения подробной информации просим позвонить по указанным номерам или написать на эл. Почту и мы подберем дл Вас самый оптимальный вариант перевозки.
Shipping’s methanol “happy hour” has ended, with LNG back on the menu, decarbonisation “slowing” and freight rates set to double permanently, claimed classification giant DNV Maritime this week.
At the unveiling of the eighth edition of DNV’s Maritime Forecast yesterday, CEO Knut Ørbeck-Nilssen said shipping decarbonisation was slowing and 93% of the global fleet was still running on conventional fossil fuels.
“…if you look to what it costs these days to either build a new vessel with new fuel capabilities, or indeed if you want to retrofit vessels with new fuels, it is very costly,” he said, adding that yard space for retrofits or newbuilding was difficult to find and carried a high premium.
Hampered production hindered the development of green methanol supply chains, said DNV, Mr Ørbeck-Nilssen adding: “70% [of production facilities] have not made it into the final investment decision.”
In a veiled reference to Maersk and its u-turn on methanol, he said the “happy hour” for the emergent fuel was over, and “…some very significant drivers for methanol in the maritime industry seem to have pulled back…[which] will naturally influence how others might see it.”
Onboard carbon capture instead seems to be DNV’s focus, with various systems available on the market able to reduce ship funnel CO2 emissions by 20% or more, provided a portion of additional fuel is burned to support this energy cost.
Contingent on the provision of carbon “reception facilities” made available in ports, Mr Ørbeck-Nilssen said: “The study shows that onboard carbon capture and storage will have a significant effect to decarbonise shipping. In all scenarios, that it is important and it will also alleviate the pressure on the lack of carbon neutral fuels that we have seen.”
Meanwhile, DNV expects shipping decarbonisation to double freight costs, with various scenarios projecting between a 91% and a 112% bump to freight rates on a permanent basis.
“This is a significant increase in the cost of shipping… [which] cannot be absorbed by the shipowner or the operator,” said Mr Ørbeck-Nilssen. “It has to result in increased freight rates.” And he added this “will have some bearing on our personal lives as well”.
DNV’s Eirik Ovrum, maritime principal consultant and maritime forecast lead author, said: “Ultimately, the increased costs… will have to be moved through the value chain to the consumer as an increase in the price of goods… there are already movements in the market to do this.”
However, the doubling of freight rates would seem like a pleasant reprieve compared with what forwarders and their customers have dealt with in recent months and years. Yesterday’s Drewry World Container Index (WCI) composite index was sitting at $5,181 per 40ft, a 265% increase on the average 2019 rate of $1,420. (The WCI climbed to $10,377 at the height of the pandemic disruptions, a 630% increase).
![Methanol 'happy hour' over, and decarbonisation will double freight rates](/Images/Post/30b2c928-7213-4ad8-aa3d-caacbb19741a_5ed49f2d-b909-4315-b0e4-be92f4bde45f.jpg?width=700)
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![#Oceanfreight #seafreight #seafreightforwarder #seacargoservice #customsclearance #customshouseagent](/Images/Post/0e7a714e-f3b0-499e-8add-5fe21dc06401_287d2fa4-fcac-406a-960e-81f2cc82c532.png?width=700)
Port congestion should ease as new vessel capacity comes in and Red Sea diversions become the norm – but “there will always be something” disrupting the market, warned Drewry’s Ports & Terminal Insight editor, Eleanor Hadland.
In Drewry’s monthly report, the maritime consultancy identified a sharp increase in congestion as a result of the Red Sea diversions, and Ms Hadland noted: “A lot of the congestion has been related to transhipment cargo.
“If I was a shipper, I’d be looking for a direct service – I would not be wanting a service that relied on transhipment,” she added.
“Efficient terminal operations require a fixed weekly vessel schedule,” she explained. “And the Red Sea crisis has reduced carriers’ ability to operate weekly sailings… The congestion we’ve seen in response to the Red Sea crisis has worsened due to blank sailings.
“Unlike Covid when the disruption impacted production and distribution, what we are seeing is normal flows of cargo to/from ports via road, rail and feeder. However, with high numbers of blank sailings it doesn’t take long for a backlog of cargo to build up in the yard.”
“Once the terminal yards get congested, you start to enter a vicious cycle where the congestion reduces productivity, which leads to further vessel delays. The situation is often magnified at transhipment terminals, due to rapid build-up of cargo when connections between mainline and feeder services are missed.”
"But Ms Hadland suggested the number of new vessels being delivered this year and next would provide ‘light at the end of the tunnel’. She said: “Once these vessels are deployed then the gaps in the mainline schedules caused by the longer Cape of Good Hope route will reduce, dwell times will start coming down towards normal levels and yard congestion will fall.”
“What happens if the ILA negotiations don’t succeed and we see strike action at US east and Gulf coast ports? There’s also risk of similar dock strikes in Germany and rail strikes in Canada. Plus, climate change is increasingly impacting the sector with floods and severe weather events.”
“There’s always going to be something,” she concluded.
![Arrival of new box ships and fewer blank sailings should ease port congestion](/Images/Post/59f161b7-2bb1-4573-b8f6-64403ef4e72f_e1b909bb-c270-4ebd-8de1-606a7f07b8a0.jpg?width=700)
In July, Valenciaport handled 461,121 containers, marking a 5.64% increase compared to the same month last year.
The port processed 6.75 million tons of goods in terms of weight, reflecting a 1.22% increase from July 2023.
For the year-to-date period ending July 31, Valenciaport has managed 3,169,288 TEUs, a 12.74% rise over the same period last year, translating to 47.61 million tons, up by 6.10%.
In addition, the data over the past twelve months shows that the port has handled 79.48 million tons of cargo and 5,155,084 TEUs, representing year-over-year increases of 5.56% and 8.62%, respectively. This highlights Valenciaport’s role as a crucial hub for international trade.
The Statistical Bulletin from the Port Authority of Valencia (APV) reveals a mixed performance for July, with decreases in bulk traffic (-27.53%), empty containers (-5.78%), and exports (-5.81%). However, these declines were offset by gains in containerized general cargo (+9.10%), import containers (+7.24%), and transit containers (+18.65%).
Furthermore, from January 1 to July 31, the port handled 354,376 vehicles under the cargo regime, a 9.07% decrease compared to the first seven months of the previous year. Export data for the year show significant growth in iron and steel (+5.82%) and non-metallic minerals (+23.67%).
Conversely, declines were noted in chemical products (-1.77%), construction materials (-1.75%), and other goods (-12.42%), including wood and cork, paper and pulp, machinery, tools, and spare parts.
![Valenciaport processes 461,121 containers in July](/Images/Post/7d320560-cda4-467f-aae6-5c5b13fa8640_c3a528fa-3d80-4e40-909e-2be4e09c7932.jpg?width=700)
Welcome a new company on MaxModal. You can see LOGI MAR LTD. services on their business profile, drop them a message, add them to your contacts or submit a special request to them
#shipping#warehouse#terminal
![LORI MAR LTD. has joined MaxModal](/Images/Post/d2e584e9-ed3a-4739-835f-14ea2b78590b_a288d421-87b2-4a68-8c5d-c4e392168453.png?width=700)
Despite more than two million teu of newbuild container vessels joining the global fleet so far this year, the pool of open tonnage remains at a record low.
This presents a significant challenge to carrier ship managers looking to compensate for schedule delays and essential dry-docking by tapping into the charter market.
According to a survey by Alphaliner, there were only 67 vessels, with a capacity of 195,159 teu, recorded as commercially idle on 12 August, representing just 0.6% of the world’s 30m teu global fleet capacity.
Moreover, the idled units are heavily weighted towards the small sizes, with 41 of the 67 having capacity of less than 2,000 teu.
“The liner shipping peak season, intermittent congestion at some key ports and the ongoing diversions around Africa continue to put a strain on the supply of tonnage,” said Alphaliner.
It added that industrial action on the US east coast, the looming rail strike in Canada, as well as disruptions in the Gulf of Mexico and in India, could put even more strain on vessel supply as carriers look to secure additional ships to mitigate network delays.
Indeed, Maersk said last week that, since the outbreak of the Red Sea crisis, it had chartered some 172,000 teu of extra capacity “to mitigate the impact of the disruptions on our customers’ cargo flow”.
The Danish carrier and its peers have drained the charter market of tonnage to shore up their networks, and the idle fleet has been further depleted by the launch of ‘opportunist’ services taking advantage of inflated spot rates – a fashion seen during the post-pandemic demand boom.
Around 500,000 teu of newbuild container vessels hit the water in June and July, with over 100,000 teu delivered this month so far. Deliveries this month include the 16,592 teu methanol-dual fuel powered Alexandra Maersk, the fifth in a series of 12 vessels ordered by the carrier in August 2021.
Notwithstanding the extra capacity required to service disrupted liner networks, the forthcoming break-up of the 2M Alliance, of Maersk and MSC, and the departure of Hapag-Lloyd from THE Alliance is weighing on the minds of carriers that do not want to lose market share as a consequence.
This will become critical during the upcoming slack season, when carriers are obliged to discount prices to fill allocations.
According to Alphaliner data, there is still around 1m teu of capacity scheduled to be delivered this year, with a further 2m teu due in 2025.
Meanwhile, carriers are in bullish mood after recording better-than-expected profits at the half-year stage, with for example Israeli carrier Zim saying it expected “even better results in the second half of 2024”.
As a result the cash-rich carriers are once again turning to Asian shipyards for newbuild slots, with confirmed orders this year already at more than 2m teu.
However, these orders, which are mainly concentrated at Chinese yards, will not be received by carriers until 2027 at the earliest.
![Idle box ship fleet at record lows as carriers drain charter market of tonnage](/Images/Post/69936eaa-f263-4b24-b0f8-a9057cd4a030_736037db-fa82-4efe-8f9e-258257677694.jpg?width=700)
Competition between government/landlord ports and Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) in India is heating up, with the latter making rapid inroads into the emerging market.
Adani Group’s flagship Mundra Port boosted its market share of Indian containerised trade to 34% last fiscal year (2023-24), from 31% year-over-year, according to exclusive data obtained by Container News. Mundra competes with Nhava Sheva Port for north-western cargo, which makes up the bulk of Indian box volumes.
To amplify the growth pace for Adani, Mundra has seen container volumes increase from 2.7 million TEUs in 2014-15 to 7.4 million TEUs in 2023-24, registering a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12%.
On the other hand, Nhava Sheva Port (JNPT) has expanded volumes at a significantly slower rate -– from 4.5 million TEUs to 6.4 million TEUs, a CAGR of 4%, data shows.
That phenomenal growth for Mundra comes despite its high tariff rates. Mundra’s vessel and-container-related charges are substantially higher than those at the leading terminals in Nhava Sheva, according to anecdotal data.
According to local industry voices, greater efficiency and stronger hinterland cargo advantages are driving Mundra's growth journey.
Additionally, Adani’s strategic terminal partnerships with liner giants CMA CGM and MSC yields significant volume gains for Mundra. The port saw 1.7 million TEUs of transshipment cargo-handling in fiscal 2023-24.
Steady cargo shifts away from government ports could threaten volume targets for India’s older build-operate-transfer (BOT) terminal operators, who have concessions that mandate high royalty share obligations towards their landlord port entities.
“Clearly, the company’s business model of end-to-end service, strategic partnership with key customers, leveraging the network effect through its string of ports, and focus on operational efficiencies is yielding results,” said Ashwani Gupta, whole-time director and CEO at APSEZ in a recent statement.
He further said: “We continue to invest heavily in the business to drive growth, particularly in the logistics segment.”
Gupta went on to add: “Our newly launched trucking segment enables APSEZ to provide the last-mile connectivity solution to its customers. Our efforts towards sustainable business growth are well recognized in the top decile ESG rating from four global rating agencies.”
APSEZ is also betting high on its new container transhipment terminal at Vizhinjam Port in southern India. The terminal recently kicked off trial operations, ahead of its official launch shortly.
“Once we complete the automation and the Vessel Traffic Management System, Vizhinjam will be in a class of its own as one of the most technologically sophisticated transshipment ports in the world," APSEZ managing director Karan Adani noted.
"No other port in India - including our own highly advanced Mundra Port - has these technologies,” he added.
![Adani’s Mundra Port continues to expand Indian container trade market share](/Images/Post/073aa44d-236a-4c43-9b27-4e203675ac9c_e37ac8f3-fbfe-43a9-b455-3266e4713667.jpeg?width=700)