Boxships biting chunks out of conventional reefer ships

The global fleet of conventional reefer (refrigerated) ships is rapidly diminishing, as containerships with reefer capacity bite big chunks out of their market. Port and shipping line executives around the world have said they expect a gradual shift away from systems built around traditional reefer ships, where food sits on pallets in a refrigerated hold and is delivered to a cold store on arrival. They are instead designing systems to handle goods in containers with refrigeration units. The change looks all but certain to cut the existing refrigerated fleet by about a third – 144 of the 500 traditional ships large enough to compete in international markets are already at least 21 years old and hardly any replacements are on order, according to an article in the UK’s Financial Times. And, the MD of Seatrade, Yntze Buitenwerf, told the newspaper: “In 10 years’ time the overall world fleet might only be half of what it is today.” The boxships already have a vast majority of the market for shipping perishable goods – which only two decades ago saw the conventional reefers hogging the big share of the perishable trade. But it’s now the containerised reefers dominating the market. David Williams, SA MD of Maersk Line, reckons that 80% of all the perishable cargo on all SA’s trades is now carried in reefer boxes. The fact that container designers have now devised extremely efficient controlled refrigeration and controlled atmosphere units also means fruit, including the most temperature and atmosphere sensitive varieties, can safely be carried in reefer boxes, he added. And, confirming the trend, his Danish-based line has launched services between the southern and northern hemispheres, which have been reefers’ strengths, implying that the latter is losing ground to containers. Maersk’s new ships due to be running on north-south loops will be equipped with 1 700 refrigerated container plugs. Looking ahead, the reefer box dominance is set to continue. World trade in perishable reefer cargo is forecast to grow to 215-million tonnes by 2015, according to Drewry Shipping Consultants, of which 109-mt will be seaborne. Drewry predicts that the bulk of seaborne perishable trade will be containerised, due partly to limited – and declining – capacity in the specialised reefer vessel fleet, which in recent years has seen consolidation and the withdrawal of some established names. The specialised fleet is forecast to carry 32-mt in 2015, down 3.5-mt on 2007 volumes. That leaves a potential 77-mt for the reefer container sector in 2015.