Larger vessels putting pressure on the container industry

A presentation by maritime consultancy, Drewry, at Intermodal Europe in Rotterdam last week revealed the increased financial and logistics pressures faced throughout the container shipping industry due to larger vessels.

Cargo owners, intermodal operators, terminal operators and ports are dealing with higher costs while shipping lines reap the benefits of lower costs, creating diseconomies of scale.

The average size of newly built ships doubled from 4,000 teu in 2009 to 8,000 teu in 2014 while 82% of the current order book comprises vessels that are larger than 8,000 teu.