NEWS

Following the orgasm of super-large container ship ordering in 2011 and 2013, with the further determination of the alliance pattern of the international container liner transportation market, the current market has set off a new upsurge of super-large container ship ordering. Since the beginning of this year, the global order scale of over 8000TEU super large container ships has reached 57, 957000 TEU. In addition, the trend of large-scale custom-built ships has further emerged. The single container space has exceeded 20000TEU, which makes the industry marvel at the same time, but also think about how long the upsurge of super-large container ships will last?

In March
, six 20150TEU ship types ordered by G6 alliance member merchant ship Mitsui officially opened the 20000 container era of world container ship construction. Subsequently, OOCL, a member of G6 alliance, and Dafei, a member of O3 alliance, followed suit, launching 6 21100TEU and 3 20600TEU container ships respectively. COSCO Group, a member of CKYHE Alliance, has also made it clear that it will order up to 13 20000TEU container ships, which is expected to become the fourth liner company in the world to order 20000TEU container ships. It can be said that at present, the global mainstream container ship owners have paid full attention to and entered the field of 20000TEU container ship shipping. The "crazy ordering" of super-large container ships is due to the attraction of its economies of scale to shipowners on the one hand, and the competitive pressure among major shipping alliances on the other, leading to "ordering" among liner companies ".

how long this super-large container ordering boom can last, and whether the ship type will be fully entered into 20000TEU, it has once become a question for the industry to think and discuss. In fact, from the current choice of the vast majority of shipowners, they have gradually predicted the potential risks of the future market, and the decision-making tends to be cautious. Maersk Shipping, a global leader in liner shipping, has not yet entered the field of 20000TEU container ships. With its 5-year US $15 billion investment plan announced in September 2014, the shipowner has successively implemented 3 batches of new ship ordering projects in less than a year, namely 11 19630TEU, 7 360TEU and 9 14000TEU container ships. It can be said that Maersk Line's new ship capacity layout is not limited to the launch of super-large capacity, but also actively pays attention to the capacity demand of regional routes for regional container ships to meet the multi-polar transportation needs of the global container shipping market in the future. However, Yangming Shipping, one of the members of CKYHE Alliance, abandoned the initial batch of 20000TEU container ships and ordered five 14000TEU ships instead after some struggle. Yangming Shipping's worries about the shipping market and its attitude towards ordering super-large container ships are also the epitome of some other liner companies to a certain extent. On the one hand, shipowners are worried that it is difficult to gain a foothold or compete in the market without super-large ships, on the other hand, they are more worried about whether the ordering of super-large container ships of this size can really bring the expected benefits, and the increasing downward freight pressure makes their original passion for ordering no longer swear.

, judging from the future development trend, after several rounds of ordering, the orders for super-large ships of the world's major container liner alliances have been basically implemented. Except for a few shipowners such as COSCO Group who have the demand for ordering ships, it is expected that the order boom for super-large container ships, especially those above 18000TEU, will decline in the short term. With the increasing downward pressure on freight in the container ship market, the container ship market may be adjusted. However, from the perspective of the long-term development of ship types, moderate large-scale is still the future development trend of the container ship market, and 24000-25000TEU container ships may appear in the next 5-10 years. In addition, driven by active factors in global regional trade, there will be considerable market demand for feeder container ships, and the next stage of ordering may be active. In view of the better expectations of the regional container ship shipping market, Maersk Line and Evergreen Shipping have recently placed bulk orders for regional container ships.