Wallenius Wilhelmsen to Reactivate More Ships Amid Improving Market Conditions

Wallenius Wilhelmsen will return three more ships from cold lay-up as it continues to reactivate its fleet amid improving market conditions.

The privately-held Norwegian/Swedish Ro-Ro shipping company last spring initiated the cold lay-up of 15 vessels in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In early January, it announced it would begin the process returning nine of them to service, and it now says it will add an additional three “to keep pace with changing market conditions.”

In a statement, Wallenius Wilhelmsen said the change comes in response to growing demand combined with rising rates and lack of capacity in the time charter market.

“As part of our operations, we have the ability to adjust the fleet to our needs and changing market conditions,” says Craig Jasienski, CEO of Wallenius Wilhelmsen.

The thee ships are expected to be back in service in June and July. As for the four remaining in lay-up, the company says there’s a chance that they will be reactivated later this year as some industries are now showing signs of recovery.

“While it remains challenging to predict the potential market impact from virus intensity in parts of the world, the overall industry supply-demand balance is expected to improve in the mid-term due to overall global fleet reduction, low order book and a rebound in volumes during 2021,” said Jasienski.