FLEET RENEWAL is high on the agenda at Safmarine for the year ahead.
That's the word from Safmarine Container Lines chief executive officer Howard Boyd who told FTW from Antwerp last week that while no decisions had yet been made, the South African economy held the key .
As a shipping company it's been disappointing for us to see the lack of growth in the economy in the last three years, particularly the slowdown in foreign investment.
The shipping booms have come when the economy has expanded, when foreign fixed investment has expanded and imports have surged, because that's where we make our money.
This has however been sorely lacking for some time, says Boyd, who believes that all the indicators are looking more positive. The business confidence index is climbing and GDP growth in the fourth quarter looked solid, but there's still a long way to go.
The level of growth will clearly decide the size of new vessels, which will probably be introduced into the SAECS or Safari services. In terms of time frames, there will be a two year delay till delivery once the order has been placed.
Safmarine is carefully weighing up its options.
Fruit is a big factor on the Europe trade and we would therefore tend to much more specialised tonnage. But specialisation brings lack of flexibilitiy so we've got to balance those issues.
The Far East trade is probably growing more quickly than Europe so sizing that trade is not easy.
Shippers can expect a decision by the end of this year.
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