W t f ?

[seadog!]

From Maritime Reporter 1/13/09:

According to a report from The Economic Times, Evergreen Marine has plans to spend $5.5b to build 100 container ships before the anticipated recovery of the global economy in 2012. The company plans to go for some 30 ships in the 8,000 TEU category, 40 ships in 5,500 TEU, 10 ships in 3,900 TEU, and 20 ships in 2,800 TEU...

And in the same issue...

A sharp contraction in world trade has idled more than 200 container ships, threatening the survival of many companies, according to The Journal of Commerce.The slump in container shipping appears certain to extend into 2010 or beyond...

[Jolly Tar]

I noticed the EXACT same thing and it was a chuckling topic in the wheelhouse.

[CMA_Decky]

Probably trying to get the builds in while steel prices are low?

[john]

This is a great time to build your business if you have excess capital, prices on everything from steel to naval architecture are hitting relative lows. Look at Edison Chouest, everyone thought they were nuts for continuing to build new OSV's 5 years ago but once the price of oil and dayrates started climbing so did their profit charts.

[Father of Evergreen Cadet]

And this Company's Captains have been told to block their crew's Email service to save money, although the Amosconnect system costs them NOTHING to use.

What about crew morale Evergreen? My Son is on the other side of the world and has to rely on SMS when close to shore which isn't cheap (whereas Amos is FREE), even the Taiwanese and Philipino crew are unable to use Email. How many rivets will this buy in your $5.5Bn budget??

So much for a "Happy crew = happy ship" eh!!

[mrbob]

The Amosconnect system is probably just down, tends to be a bit tempremental.

[Father of Evergreen Cadet]

Nope. Definitely switched off by the Old Man

[mrbob]

Must be a recent thing then. Would explain why I've heard bugger all off any of the cadets on board at the moment. Back to good old messages in a bottle.