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Generally speaking, Mondays are our biggest days here at gCaptain.com in terms of visitors to the site.  I know I spend enough time sitting in front of a computer during the week that the last thing I want to be doing on my time off is surfing around the web, so I tend to wait until Monday to get up to speed on all my favorite sites.

This Monday was particularly good for us, but rather than thinking that everyone was just so excited to get their gCaptain fix when back in front of their computers, we had to investigate.

Turns out that the Wall Street Journal did an article titled “The Mega Containers Invade.”  It points to the fact that despite the current credit crisis that is sinking its teeth into the shipping industry, especially for container shippers, companies with the means are still building a record number of giant vessels that might very well knock the smaller players out of the game.

So how was this good for gCaptain?  Well it gave mention to the recently delivered 13,800 TEU, MSC Daniela.  And if you put the keywords “msc daniela” into google, gCaptain ranks number 1.  So, to repay the favor for the 1,000 or so hits we received, here is a snippet of the article with a link back to the WSJ:

Container shippers are unleashing a wave of titanic vessels on the oceans during the biggest dip in global trade since World War II.

The trend could keep sea freight rates depressed well into 2010. That’s good news for their customers, the millions of businesses big and small that import parts and products from overseas. But it’s likely to spell pain within the shipping industry itself and could precipitate consolidation as smaller players are pushed out.

…..

Thirty-five ships of Daniela’s scale are scheduled to hit water in 2009, doubling the number floating today. They’ll make up roughly a quarter of the net increase in container capacity on the high seas. The Asian companies that make up 16 of the top 20 container shippers are also ordering the ships, led by China’s Cosco Container Lines with 24. By 2013, some 200 ultralarge ships will be in service around the world.

Meanwhile, a ship capable of fitting 22,000 containers has been designed by South Korea’s STX Shipbuilding Co.

Giuseppe Di Maio, an operations manager at the Daniela’s owner, Mediterranean Shipping Co., said the company filled every slot — but at bargain rates.

Shippers are eager to avoid partially filled vessels at almost any cost. “To fill their big boats, these guys will cut their price to any level for customers,” said Dirk Visser, an analyst at Dynamar NV, a Dutch consultancy. READ FULL ARTICLE

A big thanks to John_Lennon for pointing us to this article in the comments for Interesting Ship of The Week – MSC Daniela

Additional article from the Wall Street Journal:

Ship Shape: Gargantuan Cargo Ships Carry Environmental Benefits

Import Security Filing Services – gCaptain Forum

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