[article] Ships used as car parks for unsold vehicles

Ships used as car parks for unsold vehicles

Car manufacturers are increasingly using ships to store excess vehicles
because ports' parking areas have become overwhelmed by the build-up of
unsold vehicles.

The move is a rare positive development for operators of the world's fleet
of 640 car carriers, which face sharp falls in traffic. At the same time, 70
new ships, mostly larger than their predecessors, are due for delivery this
year alone.

Operators have been forced to slow ships down to absorb spare capacity and
conserve fuel. Many are also simplifying distribution networks. Some ports
have run out of storage space as recently imported cars or vehicles awaiting
export sit unsold following the sudden fall in demand.

Specialist car terminals' vast parking spaces are often the only point in
supply chains with sufficient storage space for large numbers of cars.

One specialist car-carrier shipbroker said the number of under-employed car
carriers was helping manufacturers to find vessels for storage.

Wallenius Wilhelmsen, the Scandinavian joint venture that operates the
world's largest car-carrier fleet, confirmed that one of its vessels, the
Morning Glory, had been chartered to store up to 2,500 Toyota cars in the
port of Malmö, southern Sweden.

Another large operator, Oslo-based Höegh Autoliners, said it was working on
a number of inquiries from manufacturers. Other operators are known to be
considering or to have taken on storage work.

Until the third quarter of last year, no operator would have had the
capacity to spare ships for such work.

While there are no exact figures yet for the scale of the downturn, demand
is known to have dropped off sharply since September. The downturn is
particularly affecting the operators of smaller ships that are used to ferry
cars from main hub ports to smaller ports.

Operators are increasingly calling directly at smaller ports, thus avoiding
the need to trans-ship on to smaller vessels.

The slump in car demand is encouraging operators for the first time in many
years to compete harder for business moving large construction equipment,
new trains and other large loads they had neglected because vessels were so
full of cars.

Carl-Johan Hagman, chief executive of Höegh Autoliners, said that the past
five to six years had seen unprecedented growth for the sector, which had
now come to an end. "For the first time for many years now, our sales force
has got to get out and bring the cargo into the ships," he said.

Source : ft.com / Maritime Clippings