Vessel over-supply will continue to dog industry

As the world looks anxiously
to a brighter economic year
than 2008, prospects appear
none too rosy – clearly
uppermost in the mind of
Maersk Line CEO, Eivind
Kolding, who took the helm
of the European Liner Affairs
Association on January 1.
He succeeds Hapag-
Lloyd’s Ulrich Kranich. The
focus of the Brussels-based
organisation for the year ahead
is its newly established Value
Data Exchange Information
System as well as finalisation
of the Consortia Regulation.
ELAA represents a veritable
‘Who’s Who’ of the liner
shipping industry, including
the AP Moller-Maersk Group
(Maersk Line and Safmarine),
Mediterranean Shipping
Company (MSC), the
CMA-CGM Group,
Hapag-Lloyd and Emirates
Shipping Line.
As to the outlook for the
container liner shipping
industry, marked last year by
service discontinuations and/
or cuts, a new study by UBS
Investment Research suggests
excess containership supply
will remain a factor. And
even though a recovery in
demand growth will be evident
by 2010, such volumes will
absorb excess laid-up capacity.
UBS says effective
containership supply growth,
which takes into account
vessel lay-ups and order
cancellations, is likely to be
around 11.8% and 9.6% in
2009 and 2010 respectively,
demand growth anticipated at
1.2% and 6.3%.