Panamax Ships Get the Greatest Eco Savings

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Monday March 25, 2013

The most significant savings an owner can find by switching from an older vessel to a "fully optimised eco newbuild" comes at the 4,500 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) size, according to Germanischer Lloyd (GL) research presented at CMA Shipping 2013, Lloyd's List reports.

Assuming a bunker price of $750 per tonne and a speed of 19 knots, switching to a new panamx ship reduces costs 47 percent, while the saving is only 27 percent for 2,500 TEU containerships, and 35 percent for 9,000 TEU ships.

Despite the higher percentage savings, larger ships use less fuel than smaller ones per container because of economies of scale, which have pushed owners to focus newbuilding on ultra-large ships of 13,000 TEU or more.

The cost per 1,000 container miles was about $40 for either a new, fully optimised 4,500 TEU ship or an existing 13,000 TEU vessel, but the cost fell to just $29 for a fully optimised ultra-large newbuilding.

Hermann Klein, chief executive of ER Schiffahrt, said an additional advantage of larger ships is that they are often built with a contract of 10 to 15 years in place, whereas panamax ships are sometimes timechartered for as little as six weeks and rates sometimes fall below operating expenses.

Growth in the global container ship fleet in 2013 will come largely from fuel-saving ships of 10,000 TEU or more, according to Braemer Seascope, and Maersk Line is leading the way with the delivery of its new 18,000 TEU Triple-E Class vessels starting in July.

Ship & Bunker News Team
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