Drewry predicts more big ships and overcapacity on US West Coast

Analyst Drewry has warned that more carriers may follow CMA CGM in sending mega-ships to the US West Coast.

Following two trial runs with the 18,000 teu CMA CGM Benjamin Franklin, the carrier announced that, from May 2016, it will regularly deploy six ships of nearly 18,000 teu on the trade between Asia, Long Beach and Oakland.

In a statement released on March 14, Drewry said: “More carriers may follow CMA CGM’s lead and cascade big ships into the Transpacific, but they risk harming the utilisation and freight rates unless they drastically reduce the number of services.”