MOL downsizes fleet by 20 percent

15 Nov 2009

Source:CI Online

Japanese-headquartered MOL has cut its feet by around 20% in the 12 months to September this year in order to cope with the downturn.

According to local newspaper reports, MOL now has 101 container vessels, after dispensing with 41 ships, of which 13 were demolished and 28 were returned to their owners. Its fleet now stands at 390,000TEU, down 20% (40,000TEU) compared to September last year. The majority of the scrapped ships were of between 2,800-3,000TEU and according to the Kaiji Press, ships aged between 17 and 18 years were also disposed of.

MOL said it expected demand to start picking up in 2013 and that it has made it a policy to maintain its current fleet until this happens. Even if the pickup in demand does not happen until later than 2013, MOL said it wouldn't be a problem as the number of box ships would naturally decrease anyway unless it extends contracts.

MOL is not the only ocean carrier to be discarding ships in efforts to match supply and demand. Evergreen recently revealed that it is planning to scarp more vessels before the end of the year, after revealing in June that it planned to get rid of 31 vessels.