Feeling the pinch from void sailings

European ports and feeder operators are beginning to feel the pinch from voided sailings by liners operating on the overcapacity-plagued Asia to Europe trade lanes.

The strategic decision to blank voyages and stall vessels means fewer ships for ports and leaner pickings for feeder operators.

The CKYH alliance of Coscon, K Line, Yang Ming and Hanjin Shipping is the latest to announce voyage cancellations seeking to cut supply and shore up rates.

CKYH is to void seven voyages on the Asia-North Europe and Mediterranean service loops from the middle of January until the end of February.

However, terminal operators are not the only players that will suffer at the ports. 

The pilots, tugs, mooring gangs and port agencies that service behemoth ships will see their revenue depleted significantly as they handle fewer calls.

Meanwhile, the hard-working feeder operators will scramble for the reduced cargo that does come off at the hub ports and could be forced to idle their own tonnage if they are unable to off-hire.

Indeed, in its latest trading update, up to 8 December, Dublin’s Irish Continental Group said its container volumes for Eucon and Feederlink — which was acquired by Unifeeder in mid-December — fell 6.1% to 365,000teu.