Dive Brief:
- Seatrade, the world's largest operator of specialized refrigerated ships for perishables, has placed orders for two new vessels from a shipbuilder in China.
- The ships, which will cost roughly $30 million a piece, are containerships, not the bulk-cargo vessels that traditionally dominate reefer transportation.
- The new ships will be used as part of what the Antwerp-based company calls its new "fast, direct and dedicated (FDD) service concept."
Dive Insight:
As global trade in perishables has grown, the ship industry has gone through a number of approaches to getting fresh fruits and vegetables across the planet. Containerization only got its start in the years after WWII. And as recently as 20 years ago, 40% of refrigerated traffic moved in containers.
Today, containers make up about 60% of reefer traffic. But Seatrade has largely avoided that by running specialized ships where the cargo is kept in holds, just like the breakbulk ships of old. The news that even Seatrade is moving toward containers suggests that the efficiencies to be found in intermodal boxes can't be found any other way.