European Box lines can increase Reefer capacity, MSC secures Top spot : Alphaliner

LONDON: Alphaliner’s latest report said that European container carriers can use more of their overallcapacitytocarryreefers.

MSC has the highest reefer capacity, with 496,200 reefer plugs in the 746 ships the Swiss-Italian market leader operates. MSC has grown its reefer capacity in tandemwithitsaggressivevesselacquisitions.

Back in April 2022, Maersk was in the top position, despite the fact that MSC had overtaken the Danish shipping company as the world’s largest container carrierinearlyJanuary2022.

When comparing reefer capacities on a year-on-year basis, the 12.1% increase for MSC is clearly related to its overall 11.8% fleet growth. Maersk lost its top reefer positiontoMSCastheDanishlinehasreduceditsoverall fleetby2.5%sinceApril2022.

The percentage of slots available for plugged-in reefer boxes hovers above 20% for MSC, Maersk, CMA CGM and Hapag-Lloyd. This compares to values from 15.5% (HMM) to 17.3% (Evergreen) for their Asian counterparts.

Alphalinerstated,“Thereisanobviousreasonforthis noticeable difference: In the past, all big European carriers ordered some newbuildings with an extra high number of reefer plugs, since these ships were specifically designed to be operated on fruit-oriented or otherreefer-heavyLatinAmericaservice.”

ZIM realised the biggest growth in reefer capacity, at nearly 26%, which is in line with its 26.3% overall fleet expansion.

Hapag-Lloyd is the only carrier with a proportionally larger increase in reefer capacity than in its total fleet. The German container line has been the latest carrier to take delivery of newbuildings with a high reefer capacity as the ships were specifically designed to be deployed in servicesto/fromLatinAmerica.

Since July 2022, Hapag-Lloyd has added five 13,312 TEU sister vessels to its fleet. Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries is set to deliver the sixth and final ship in this series, the Buenaventura Express, in June. These ships are fitted with 2,220 reefer plugs, the highest number of reefer connections on any single container vessel. The additionoftheseshipshasgrownHapag-Lloyd’snumber of reefer plugs by 4.7% since April 2022 despite a very small0.4%overallfleetgrowth.

Four more high-reefer 13,000 TEU ships built by China’s New Century Shipbuilding are scheduled to join Hapag-Lloyd’sfleetfromOctober.

HMM cuts carbon emissions by half in last decade

SEOUL: HMM has accelerated its efforts to become an eco-friendly shipping company, reducing carbon emissions to less than half of 2010 levels.

According to HMM, the CO2 emissions generated when transporting 1TEU of container for 1km decreased from 68.7g in 2010 to 29.05g in 2021, representing a reductionof57.7%overthelastdecade.

This result has been achieved amid a more than twofoldincreaseinfleetcapacity,from337,407TEUto755,209 TEU,inthesameperiod.

HMM has constantly upgraded its fleet by securing energy-efficient mega-vessels. It also used premium antifoulingpaintandmodifiedthebulbousbow'sshapeto lessen the hull surface's frictional resistance.

Additionally, HMM has improved its operational efficiency by optimizing service routes, speeds, and cargostowage.

In particular, HMM formed a dedicated Task Force in 2015 for effective energy efficiency management and opened a Fleet Control Center in 2020, which analyzes real-time data about vessel operations to reduce greenhousegasemissions.

An HMM official said, “We will continue to engage in activities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions based on data-driven analysis and enhance our environmental capability”.

As an environmental initiative, HMM has committed to reaching net-zero carbon emissions across its fleet by 2050. Last February, it signed newbuilding contracts for nine9,000TEUmethanol-fueledcontainerships.