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Maersk Line, one of the
world's largest containership operators, remains
upbeat on the liner market despite gloomy
forecasts of overcapacity in the next few years.
Chief executive officer for Asia-Pacific, Jesper
Praestensgaard, said there were concerns on
weakening demand and a large order book for new
container vessels. But this was not supported by
actual figures.
“In fact, two shipping analysts, Drewry Shipping
Consultants Ltd and Clarksons Plc, have forecast
a solid global gross domestic product (GDP) this
year, the key driver of demand growth,” he told
StarBiz in an e-mail interview.
He said the world's economy would still grow
above the long-term average of 3%.
“Container market demand is expected to be
robust and capacity growth is likely to slow
down from peak levels this year.
“While the supply and demand balance will indeed
soften over the next few years, we are likely to
end up around the healthy level of 2003,” he
said.
According to Drewry, the outlook for this year
remains fairly healthy based on global demand,
with the forecast for a small uplift in freight
rates for ocean carriers and continued
impressive growth in the Far East, Europe and
Mediterranean trades.
On other challenges, Praestensgaard said that in
many locations, the company's container
transports were affected by the lack of capacity
in terminals and inland transportation.
He said this created operational challenges and
higher costs in inland transport for carriers
and their customers.
“Bottleneck and inefficiency issues in ports and
inland infrastructure do not originate from
limited capacity. Rather, they are the result of
long lead times in generating additional
capacity compared with the more rapid growth in
the container transport industry.
“With the long lead times for infrastructure
projects, good forecasting becomes essential.
This underlines the vital need for accurate
forecasting and long-term planning,” he said.
On the Port of Tanjung Pelepas (PTP), where
currently Maersk is one of the major main line
operators, Praestensgaard said the company was
satisfied with the reliable services provided.
“PTP manages well the three characteristics
essential for a successful port or transhipment
hub: good productivity, efficient vessel
handling and low error rate. These are factors
that Maersk Line, as a customer, looks for when
working with a terminal operator,” he said.
Maersk is the owner of the world's largest
containership, the Emma Maersk. Praestensgaard
believes that the industry has, over the last
decade, realised several benefits of building
such a large ship.
“In general, we do believe that vessel size will
become bigger. One of the main advantages is
economies of scale,” he said.
“Equally important are environmental advantages,
as larger vessels such as the Emma Maersk also
tend to be more fuel-efficient.”
The limit for how large container vessels might
become, he said, would not only be determined by
shipbuilding design and capabilities. More so,
it will be by port and inland infrastructure
capacity development.
“Maersk has seen increasing congestion and
decreasing productivity, especially at the ports
in the US and Europe. This is raising costs and
slowing ship turnaround time.
“This needs to be addressed before we again can
look at larger vessel types,” he said.
Meanwhile, he added that there would be a
continuous need for smaller and mid-sized ships
to support container markets' global networks
that included multiple smaller ports.
Praestensgaard said the industry would see the
demise of shipping conferences this year.
The European Union has issued a directive to
abolish shipping line conferences by October.
A shipping conference is a cartel of shipping
lines for the joint setting of rates and service
conditions for transporting containers.
“Freight rates should always be set by market
forces,” said Praestensgaard.
“We have clearly seen that this results in
consistent reduction in freight rates, made
possible by improved productivity in the
container industry combined with competitive
pressure.
“We now have the opportunity to start on a clean
slate to create better dialogues between
shipping lines and our customers on how we can
improve the productivity in the industry, and
thus continue to share the benefits with our
customers.”
Praestensgaard said one of the key challenges
would be the standardisation and simplification
of how shipping lines conducted their business.
“This is a joint responsibility of the container
shipping industry and our customers.
“The demise of shipping conferences should see
the disappearance of old-fashioned rhetoric and
the emergence of a strong desire to jointly
pursue productivity benefits,” he said. |
