Karsten Kunibert Krüger-Kopiske - Die deutsche Kühlschifffahrt - German Reefer Shipping

However, specialised reefers still exist and still play a vital part in the transportation of refrigerated cargoes — although for how much longer, no-one knows.

Put simply, a “specialised reefer” is a ship that loads cargo — typically on pallets — directly into the cargo holds: no containers necessary! The cargo itself is usually in cartons with the details printed on the box for all to see. This cargo might be bananas, citrus fruits, deciduous fruits such as apples or pears or something more “exotic” (as the industry calls this category) like pineapples, avocadoes or kiwifruit.

The specialised reefer fleet peaked over 20 years ago — and has been reducing in number ever since. At the beginning of 1999, there were 895 specialised reefer ships operating in the world. This number excluded any ships classified as “freezers” (ships specifically designed to transport hard-frozen cargoes such as meat, dairy and fish) of which there were over 130 at that time. It further excluded all “small” ships (below 100,000 cubic feet capacity) — typically operating in domestic and local fishing trades as not being truly representative of the global refrigerated cargo industry.

This 895-ship “reefer” fleet has reduced annually and, as of 2020, stands at just 496 ships. However, these headline numbers do not tell the full story.

Over the last 20 years a total of 69 ships have been delivered — including a total of 11 ships delivered in 2018 and 2019. These 69 “new” ships have ranged in size from 147,000 cubic feet to 880,000 cubic feet. Additionally, almost all have on-deck reefer container capacity too — with the largest ships having a capacity to carry between 180 x 40‘ reefer containers and 320 x 40’ reefer containers on-deck. This additional on-deck space can increase the under-deck capacity of the ship by up to 80 %.

Many of these ships delivered during the last 20 years are currently operated by some of the major specialised reefer companies — including Star Reefers (14), Seatrade (8), Baltic Cool (6) and FCC (6). Although these ships are operated by major companies, the majority of them are actually on time charter to those companies — with Head Owners being based elsewhere.

During this same 20-year period, 445 ships were recycled. Ships are usually recycled upon reaching 30 to 35 years of age. Outside of any specific circumstances, recycling is typically driven by the five-year dry dock and special survey requirements. Costs for these dockings and surveys can be as high as US$ 1.0 m per vessel — thus focusing Owners’ minds on whether it is prudent to undertake the work required and to continue trading or whether the costs outweigh the potential future earnings (and further costs) and to therefore recycle the ship.

To put these ship numbers into perspective it is worth comparing them with the containership fleet. The containership fleet in 2020 comprises in excess of 5,000 vessels. Containerships provide, on average, around 20 % of their capacity for refrigerated cargoes — although the percentage varies considerably depending upon both the size and the age of the ship. Overall, these 5000+ containerships provide capacity in excess of two million 40’ containers of refrigerated cargo space.

Comparing the two different modes of shipping, it is easy to calculate that the vast majority of refrigerated cargo capacity is provided by the containership industry. In fact, the containership industry provides a remarkable 96 % of overall refrigerated capacity.

Containerships have carried an ever-increasing percentage of the refrigerated cargo trade. Returning to the peak year of 1999 for the number of specialised reefer ships, total refrigerated cargo was roughly split 50:50 between the two modes of transportation. Today, 20 years later, the specialised reefer share has fallen to around 15 % of the total refrigerated trade.

Nevertheless, a 15 % market share is quite an achievement, given that the specialised reefer fleet provides only around 4 % of total refrigerated capacity.

Refrigerated cargo can be a demanding commodity — temperature sensitive (inevitably), a limited shelf life and specific growing areas that are not always supported by a sophisticated infrastructure. These characteristics can make the shipment of refrigerated cargo a challenging task that is in need of highly specialised and knowledgeable industry providers.

The specialised reefer industry has a number of attributes that distinguishes itself from its competitors, including:

–Fast, Dedicated and Direct (FDD) service

The industry has branded itself as an FDD service provider — in an attempt to focus attention on its core attributes of offering a rapid service purely for refrigerated cargoes with ships loading and discharging at refrigerated cargo ports

–Limited load and discharge port combinations

A containership service may call at a multitude of ports — both to load and discharge its cargo. With containerships becoming ever larger the need to call at more ports to fill the ships is often inevitable. Specialised reefer ships, however, can focus on a limited number of load and discharge ports — often just two or three ports to load and a similar number to discharge

–Rapid transit times

Again, with containerships becoming larger and the resultant need to call at more and more ports, transit times can be extended. In recent years, this has been exacerbated by containership services operating at a slower speed to conserve fuel and save money — further adding to transit times

–Load ports close to the cargo base

Specialised reefer ships are inevitably focused purely on refrigerated cargo. Typically, these ships are far smaller than the majority of containerships and can also call at ports not capable of handling large containerships. These ports are closer to the fruit-growing areas — not only aiding the cold-chain, but also potentially providing an environmental benefit

–Flexible schedules

Specialised reefer ships are “tramp” operators and can alter their load or discharge ports as needed. This can be highly beneficial if economic, weather or other commercial interests dictate an amended trading pattern is necessary. The ability for the containership liner trades to make such short-notice changes is far more restricted

–Focus solely on refrigerated cargoes

Containerships offer an average of around 20% of their overall capacity for refrigerated cargo — although the actual percentage can vary widely. Nevertheless, the overall majority of the cargo (at least in terms of volume if not necessarily in terms of revenue) is non-refrigerated. The containership operators must therefore have a different focus — albeit no less professional. These operators must also focus on the 80 % of their cargo that is not refrigerated — and deliver services to also accommodate that segment of their business. While they have developed seasonal services that compete directly with the specialised reefer FDD concept, the containership operators, understandably, have a liner trade mentality — and provide services based upon this concept for both dry (non-refrigerated) cargo as well as the refrigerated cargo needs

Overall, the specialised reefer services have often been likened to a “taxi” style operation, whereas the containership services have been likened to a “bus” style operation.

We should perhaps now take a moment to look at what cargoes are being shipped on specialised reefers — and why this is the case.

Major commodities shipped in specialised reefers include:

–Bananas

Bananas are grown year-round and are, as such, a perfect commodity for the liner trade concept. Loadings can take place at specific ports on a given day of the week, with discharges taking place in a similar manner. Fruit companies had traditionally chartered specialised reefers for an annual — or even multi-year — period and could plan their schedules significantly in advance. While much of this cargo has been lost to the containership operators — who, likewise, saw an opportunity to offer a similar, reefer-focused service — several specialised reefer services still remain.