With the continuous development of Global trade, the ability to carry out business continuously has become the means for the world's most competitive companies to survive. For container shipping companies, the more they can meet the needs of customers, the stronger their competitive advantage, which may provide opportunities for smaller container ships.
In the past, these 1000-4999teu container ships laid the foundation for the modern container ship market. After the larger container ships and their economies of scale became the focus of the market, the small container ships soon lost their attraction. Now, after the opening of the new Panama Canal, small container ships no longer have their main advantages. Many people believe that these container ships may be dismantled slowly until they disappear completely in the future.
However, the fate of small container ships may not be as terrible as expected. As large container shipping companies and super large container ships mainly serve the world's large port hubs, small container ships still have their flexibility advantages and focus on more niche transactions.
Once the container ship is unloaded from the ship at the delivery port, the logistics cost of the end customer does not end. Usually, container ships use trucks or trains for long-distance inland transportation, which is often very expensive. Especially in container ports, and this series of huge demand may often lead to sharp increases in freight rates.
In this regard, the use of smaller container ships can sometimes become a cost-saving scheme. The feeder transportation provided by these ships and the smaller alternative ports they call may make the final logistics cost of freight cheaper.
At the same time, small container ships can also provide better services for niche arbitrage when transporting commodities such as sugar, waste or petrochemical products. In this case, the use of smaller container ships can enable goods to be sent to the designated port more accurately and on time without waiting for regular liner services.
However, such opportunities are usually not too frequent and need to be booked in advance. Therefore, smaller container ships are still an important part of the centralized transportation supply chain.