Smaller feeder vessels are disappearing from the market, according to the latest European Port Tracker from Hackett Associates.
The recent wave of 8,000-TEU plus newbuilding orders will start to tell on the ports themselves, as smaller feeder facilities start feeling the impact of the increases, reports the UK's Port Strategy.
In recent years, there has been a rising trend increased ship sizes of two to five per cent a year since 2006. Moreover, 3,000 to 5,000-TEU ships vessels are being phased out from the Asia Europe trade and are seeking new employment elsewhere, said the report.
Since mid-sized ships have been appearing on regional routes, there is not much room for anything smaller, said Port Tracker's Ben Hackett of Hackett Associates in an interview with Port Strategy,
"The influx of the very large, indeed the ultra large, containerships has its downside in terms of flexibility. Due to their size they need to focus on large volume base ports and feeders, but even the feeders need to be larger than in the past. The cascading certainly plays into the large ship strategy, at the expense of the traditional smaller feeder sizes."