新巴拿马型汽车运输船带来更多选择

Neo-Panamax car carriers bring more choice

扩建后的巴拿马运河不但为集装箱航线提供了载货量达13,000TEU的新航道,还为以CEU而非TEU计量载货量的滚装船开通了新航线。汽车船公司在订购最新一代汽车滚装船时,已经将巴拿马运河扩建考虑在内。现在20多艘汽车专用船的宽度已经超过了运河旧船闸的最大宽度106英尺（32米）。更宽的船体提高了船舶的稳定性,通过减少对压舱物的需求增加了载货量。新巴拿马型船舶具有更大的载货量——高达8,800 CEU。

The Panama Canal's expanded locks, which provide container lines with a new route for ships carrying up to 13,000 twenty-footequivalent units, also have opened a new path for roll-on, rolloff carriers that measure capacity not in TEUs but in CEUs, or car equivalent units. Vehicle carriers factored the canal expansion into their orders for their latest generation of roll-on, roll-off car and truck carriers. More than two dozen pure car and truck carriers now have beams exceeding the 106-foot(32-meter) maximum of the canal's older locks. Broader beams improve the ships' stability and increase cargo capacity by reducing the need for ballast. The neoPanamax ships' larger capacity — up to 8,800 CEUs, compared with about 6,500 for a regular Panamax — provides carriers with economies of scale. Wider beams for neo-Panamax car carriers are important because carriers effectively had maxed out on their ability to lengthen ships. Berth restrictions at automobile ports in Japan and other countries made it impractical to introduce longer ships. Export demand has slumped with the plunge in commodity prices, which has reduced demand for earth-moving machinery and other large pieces in regions such as the Middle East. Ro-ro carriers have had some success in equipment used for wind power generation, a market that is thriving in several regions, including the United States, which in December extended renewable-energy tax credits for five years. A growing percentage of that business, however, is sourced locally, reducing the need for ocean transport. Vehicle carriers' project and breakbulk cargoes include a variety of markets that follow different cycles.