By Gaurav Raghuvanshi
A.P. Moller-Maersk (AMKBY) expects container ship capacity to
grow 11% this year, outpacing demand, the chief of its container
shipping business said Monday.
The industry is likely to scrap more vessels, sail them at even
slower speeds and idle more ships in order to balance supply with
growth, Soren Skou, the chief executive of Maersk Line, told
reporters at a news conference in Singapore.
"We expect to get a reasonable balance between demand growth and
supply growth. But it requires that the industry acts in a
reasonably fair manner," Mr. Skou said, referring to container
shippers avoiding engaging in a fare war to attract customers.
Slow steaming, industry term for slowing down ships to save
fuel, will reduce effective industry-wide capacity by 2% 2013.
In 2013, 2% of the global container vessel fleet may be
scrapped, and the percentage of ships that are idling may grow at
least one percentage point from the current 5% to 6%, he said.
Demand on the Asia to Europe routes may grow between 3% and 5% this
year, he said, adding that demand between Asia and Africa and Asia
and Latin America is rising faster at about 5% annually.
Mr. Skou also said he expects the industry to implement
previously announced rate increases from March 15. Most major
container shipping firms have announced rate increases that are
effective this month.
Maersk Line is the world's biggest container ship operator by
volume.
Write to Gaurav Raghuvanshi at
gaurav.raghuvanshi@dowjones.com
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