New SAECS fleet boosts reefer capacity

WITH THE new vessels in the SA-Europe Container Service (SAECS), perishable shippers have considerably more refrigerated container (reefer) capacity available to them, according to Peter Newton, owner of Seaboard.
“These new ships can lift 900 reefers,” he said, “and they are also hi-cube.”
That works out at about
20700-tons of capacity, in Newton’s reckoning, and is about the equivalent of 2 000 of the previous “porthole” container slots.
“With only about 700-800 porthole spaces on the old ships,” he added, “this means that the new fleet has about two-and-a-half times the reefer capacity.”