Journal of Commerce Online, 19 Feb 2009, Bruce Barnard
Ocean carriers are using idled container ships to store empty boxes as an alternative to laying up vessels amid declining traffic in all major trades.
Several large container ships sitting at anchor off Singapore and Hong Kong have been spotted over the past two months with “deckloads of empty boxes,” says AXS-Alphaliner, the Paris-based container consultant. "State of the art container ships have thus become mere storage hulls.”
Some cash-strapped carriers figure it is cheaper to pay a handling charge once and have their empties loaded on their vessels rather than pay the daily per-TEU storage fees charges levied by terminal and container depot operators.
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