140 ordered box ships cancelled since Q4 2008

CANCELLATIONS of containership orders have risen to 140 vessels aggregating 436,000 TEU since the start of the downturn in the fourth quarter of 2008, according to the Paris-based consultancy AXS Alphaliner.

Alphaliner records show the cancellations account for 6.7 per cent of the 6.51 million TEU container ship order book at October 1, 2008.

"The cancelled orders include 27 containership orders that were converted into other vessel types by their owners. The remainder were outright cancellations or orders delayed so long are presumed dropped, especially in cases where shipyards faced difficulties in meeting contractual deadlines.

"Further cancellations could emerge as discussions are still ongoing between the shipyards and owners. Also, some cancellations may not have been disclosed yet," said the report.

"The list does not include cancellations of contracts for ships whose construction has already commenced, as well as for completed ships which have not been delivered due to their owners' failure to pay," said the report.

Ship cancellations were observed in all size segments, with the largest number of cancelled orders affecting vessels in the 1,000- to 1,800-TEU size range. A total of 54 vessels in this size range have been cancelled.

Ship cancellations for vessels that are 4,000 TEU or more amounted to 22 per cent of all cancelled orders, or 52 per cent of the capacity removed from the global vessel order book, it said.

"The bulk of the cancellations were made by German non-operating owners (NOO), with 98 out of the 140 cancellations recorded made by this group, most of which are believed to be funded by KG [Kommanditgesellschaft] structures," Alphaliner added.

(Source:www.schednet.com)