Containers gain ground

While trade for pure reefer vessels is in the doldrums, the expansion of capacity on container ships for refrigerated boxes continues.

The point has now been reached where the refrigerated carrying capability of the world`s container ship fleet has exceeded that provided by the specialist reefer fleet. Clarkson Research Studies, London, announced that on October 1 the container ship refrigerated capability was 50.3 per cent of the combined capacity of the fleets of the two ship types. There are 2,109 container ships with reefer capacity, compared with 1,384 specialist reefer ships, it says. Porthole ships are a decreasing minority in the world`s container ship fleets, and slots have been disappearing at the rate of around 0.5 per cent a year, compared with a growth of around 9 per cent annually for integral reefer container slots.