Asian liner operators continue to lag behind their European peers in reefer capacity, as the latter have invested more in fully cellular container ships with reefer plugs.
MSC, the largest liner operator, continues to lead in terms of reefer capacity, with 651,000 reefer slots, giving it a reefer-to-fleet ratio of 23.3%. The Geneva-based carrier has upped its reefer plugs by nearly 12% year-on-year, in tandem with its fleet expansion over the past year.
Alphaliner said: “Theoretically, if all of these were to be filled with 40-foot reefer boxes, the shipping line could use one-fifth of its overall vessel capacity for the carriage of temperature-controlled cargo.”
CMA CGM’s reefer capacity growth stood at 10%, exceeding its overall fleet expansion of 7%. The French line can use about 23% of its nominal capacity to carry reefers, and is consistent with that of Maersk (23%), ZIM Line (23%) and Hapag-Lloyd (21%).
Alphaliner’s annual count of the top 10 carriers’ reefer capacities shows that the ‘reefer ranking’ generally follows the overall size of the respective liner operators’ fleets. The only exception is ZIM, which is the world’s 10th largest carrier, but still occupies the eighth spot for reefers, ahead of HMM and Yang Ming – the latter has recently announced a new container order aiming to modernize its fleet.
The consultancy’s annual reefer calculations once more show that the fleets of Asian carriers are typically less reefer-heavy, with reefer-to-fleet ratios between 16% (COSCO Group) and 18.5% (ONE). Some of these carriers, however, raised their ‘cool’ capacity by double-digit figures over the past twelve months, with recent newbuildings often having a somewhat higher number of plugs.
Alison Koo
Asia Correspondent
