News / Drewry questions viability of ultra-large container vessels, as carriers focus on cost-cutting

If losses continue and ocean carriers persist in focusing only on reducing costs rather than improving revenue per teu, the container liner industry “could get very ugly” in the second half of the year, said Drewry today.

Most carriers operated in the red in the final quarter of 2015, despite achieving satisfactory vessel load factors, as average freight rates per container declined dramatically.

And since then, spot container rates have fallen further and contract rates suffered the same fate, putting container line earnings ...