Expert warns over shortage of lay up space

Technorati Tags: Baltic Dry Index,Baltic Dry Indices,Ship Chartering,Shipchartering,Voyage Fixtures,Time Charter Fixtures,Panamax,Capesize,Handymax,Handysize,Supramax,Dry Cargo Fixtures,Bulk Cargo Fixtures,Baltic Exchange,Freight Review,Maritime Baltic Index,TNT Freight Review,Shortage of Lay up Space

Keith Wallis, Hong Kong - Wednesday 25 March 2009

FINDING space to lay-up increasing numbers of containerships, bulkers, tankers and other vessels could become a “big issue”, with fewer benign locations than during the last major industry downturn in the 1980s.
The warning was sounded by Lloyd’s Register Asia shipping head David Power, who said that bays around Piraeus had been used in the 1980s and that the Mediterranean still had “some places”.
But he questioned if local governments in the area were “willing to see rusting ships off their coastline”.
Norwegian fjords were not a solution as they had been previously, he told delegates at the Marine Money forum. Expert warns over shortage of lay up space
Mr Power said environmental concerns, which had not existed 25 years ago, meant the number of possible sites had reduced.
He said waters off the Philippines, which were convenient for the Asian trades, were suitable for hot lay-up for about two months but were unsuitable for longer because of the threat posed by typhoons and severe storms during the rest of the year.
He said potential locations needed a “benign anchorage that was somewhere which was not threatened by bad weather”.
Pointing to the potential cost savings, Mr Power said putting a vessel into hot lay-up would save around 40% compared with a vessel’s daily running costs. By comparison cold lay-up could see a 75% saving although there were costs associated with mothballing and reactivating the ship. He estimated it would take about 30 days to prepare a vessel for cold lay-up.