In 2006, the Emma Maersk left her shipyard. The length of 4 soccer fields, Emma was far larger and more expensive than any container ship ever before. She was a bet on globalization: By transporting a container more cheaply than any other vessel afloat, she and her 6 sister ships were expected to stimulate even faster growth in international trade, lowering the cost of moving goods through the supply chains that had reshaped the global economy. But the opposite occurred. Emma and the even larger ships that followed in her wake became a nightmare.
Container ships are the workhorses of globalization. Operating on regular schedules— an identical vessel departs Shanghai every Wednesday, stops in Singapore 9 days later and arrives in Antwerp 5 weeks hence, with tight connections to barges and freight trains—intermodal container transport gave manufacturers and retailers the confidence to plan tightly organized long-distance supply chains. Emma and her sisters’ size was expected to give shipping an immense cost advantage. Maersk forecast in 2006 that the demand for container shipping would double by 2016.
But the boom never occurred. Instead, international trade collapsed in 2008-09, and when it picked up again, its growth was far weaker than before. By the early 2010s, there simply weren’t enough container loads to fill all the new capacity, wiping out the cost advantages of larger vessels. And discharging and reloading megaships took longer as well, with more boxes to put off and on, while giant shoreside cranes needed to reach a greater distance to pick up a container. Thousands more boxes multiplied by more handling time per box added days to a port call. Delays were legion.
Once, container ships would have been able to make up those delays en route. But to save fuel and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, vessels must now travel at 17-18 knots instead of 24-25 previously, adding several days to a long ocean voyage. By 2018, 30% of the ships leaving China departed late.
Classroom discussion questions:
- How would the land side of international logistics be impacted by this issue?
- What capacity strategy best fits shipping companies now? (Hint: see Figure S7.6 in your Heizer/Render/Munson text)