Advertisement

REFRIGERATION SHIP: A future for the Reefer?

Refrigerator ships have long been some of the most graceful ships at sea, but their future is in doubt as container carriers continue to nibble away at their base cargo of fresh fruit and produce. Container lines, such as Denmark’s Maersk, has been introducing more refrigerated capacity on the important north-south routes that have long been the traditional routes for reefer vessels.

This has seen even bananas, one of the perishable products that has been the slowest to move to containers, now being containerised. To counter the trend, refrigerator ship operators such as Alpha Reefer Transport and the Seatrade Group are pooling their vessels for more efficiency, with the company’s new Hamburg Reefer Pool to begin operations in May.

At startup the pool will consist of 80 vessels offering between 140,000ft3 and 356,000ft3 of capacity. However, refrigerator ships are also being steadily scrapped, with 19 vessels of a combined 9,700,000ft3 of capacity going to the breakers last year. At the same time, only 12 new reefer ships are being built, representing just 2.5 per cent of the current fleet of 1,826 refrigerator vessels worldwide, while around ten per cent of the approximately 800 ships of more than 100,000ft3 capacity are currently laid up due to lack of work.

Ships Montly - January 2024

PIL names its fourth 14,000TEU LNG Dual-Fuel Container Vessel

On 10 March 2025 Pacific International Lines (PIL) announced the naming of its fourth 14,000 TEU LNG dual-fuel container vessel. The vessel was named Kota...
Advertisement

Related articles

PIL names its fourth 14,000TEU LNG Dual-Fuel Container Vessel

On 10 March 2025 Pacific International Lines (PIL) announced the naming of its fourth 14,000 TEU LNG dual-fuel...

Cargo ship runs aground in Humber

The 2004-built cargo vessel H&S Wisdom, a Dutch-flagged ship, ran aground in the Humber Estuary on 2 March...

Oldendorff Carriers sells another bulker

Oldendorff Carriers has made a return to the ship-selling market, contributing to an increase in bulker sales during...

First AirWing Installed on Vectis Progress as Wind Propulsion Gains Momentum

A major milestone in sustainable shipping was reached on 4 March 2025 with the announcement of the successful...