波动市场下的班轮公司

Fluctuating fortunes for liner companies

对集装箱运力进行管理能否抵消贸易增长下滑风险依然没有确定的答案。

Container freight rates on the Far East to Europe trade have undergone two weak periods in recent years,corresponding with the European 'double dips' of 2009 and 2012.According to the Shanghai Containerised Freight Index,rates have subsequently recovered on each occasion.Lines' deployment patterns have helped to achieve this.However,it is uncertain whether the management of capacity can continue to be enough to overcome the downturn in trade growth.Whilst this shows that the lines have remained disciplined in terms of lowering running capacity,questions remain as to how sustainable this is in the long run.There are 231 containerships of 8,000 TEU+ on order,the larger of which are designed for the Asia-Europe route.These ships will mitigate against a continued decline in capacity.At the same time,the risks presented by the Euro crisis or slight Chinese economic slowing mean that deployment decisions to manage capacity are likely to remain challenging for mainlane operators.This is crucial to the relative health of the different sectors of the box shipping industry.