News / 'Flexible' new mid-size containerships see carriers better prepared for crashing demand

Emergent trends in shipbuilding demonstrate how carriers are building capacity management into their fleets at the design stage.

The longtime pre-pandemic trend of “bigger is better” appears to have been sidelined in favour of flexible neo-panamax vessels of between 14,000 and 16,000 teu.

Benefits of what is now referred to as the ‘mid-size’ vessel range include greater flexibility in deployment and the ability to call at more ports around the world.

Alphaliner points to the stark difference between the former capacity of vessels in a similar size bracket – just 8,000 teu in a footprint of 335 x 45 metres – compared with the modern equivalent of ‘compact neo-panamaxes’ which measure 335 x 51 metres and have smaller engines and wider hulls, ensuring more container capacity.

Ports designed for the former 8,000 teu vessels can generally accommodate the new breed of 14,000 teu compact neo-panamaxes, Alphaliner says, noting that some 21% of this year’s newneo-panamaxes vessels are being deployed on Asia-Latin America routes, where ports have historically seen lower investment.

For example, Latin America’s largest port, Itaqui in Brazil, handled 4.8m teu in 2022, comparable with the annual throughput of the US port of Savannah, but well short of the 9.9m teu handled at Los Angeles that year and Antwerp’s 13.5m teu.

With the ability to deploy them on many routes, carriers are equipping themselves with vessels which can still benefit from economies of scale, but which are not tied into the flagship mainhaul trades between China and Northern Europe.

This additional flexibility makes a repeat of shipping’s over-tonnaging crisis, which held down freight rates and ensured shipping remained cheap for an entire decade following the 2008 financial crisis, less likely.

Though there is enough new tonnage flooding the market to all but guarantee a drop in east-west rates should the Red Sea crisis abate, shipping lines will be better able to match their flexible, high-capacity neo-panamax vessels to the demand emerging on other trades while freely plying the Panama and Suez Canals, as needed.

Alphaliner added: “Strong growth has also seen some new neo-panamax ships join what used to be secondary trades. Three new ships are serving on the Asia-West Africa corridor, while another three went to the Far East-Middle East trade.

“One of the main advantages of the class is that the vessel can be deployed virtually everywhere, including of course trades routed via the Panama Canal.”