Exports Decline Idles Huge Fleet Of Cargo Ships

The worldwide economic crisis has dried up the demand for global trade to the extent that more than 750 large cargo vessels are now sitting idle in the waters off Singapore.
The huge flotilla of ships, some up to 300,000 tons, forms one of the largest fleets of vessels ever gathered as they sit at anchor waiting for work.
It's a maritime parallel to the hundreds of Boeing 737s, MD-80s and other passenger jets grounded at an "airplane graveyard" near Tucson, Ariz., due to the fallen demand for air travel.
Until recently the ships were engaged largely in handling exports from China and other nations the Far East. But China's exports plunged 22 percent in April compared to a year earlier, following a 17 percent drop in March, as American demand for Chinese consumer products has tailed off sharply.
The resulting oversupply of cargo-carrying capacity has forced a precipitous drop in the cost of shipping. The daily rate to charter a large bulk freighter for carrying iron ore, for instance, plunged from nearly $300,000 last summer to just $10,000 early this year, according to The New York Times.
And the cost of shipping a 40-foot steel container full of merchandise from southern China to northern Europe has fallen from $1,400 plus fuel charges a year ago to $150 early this year — which is less than the cost of providing the service.
Vessels have favored anchoring off Singapore, in the Strait of Malacca between the Malay Peninsula and the Indonesian island of Sumatra, because it has few storms, good ship repair teams, and proximity to Asian ports that might eventually have cargo to deliver, The Times reports.
But another 300 vessels are idle and anchored near Rotterdam in the Netherlands, and 150 ships are anchored in and around the Straits of Gibraltar.
"For trade to pick up, demand has to pick up," said Joshua Felman, assistant director of the Asia and Pacific division of the International Monetary Fund.
"It's very difficult to see that happening any time soon."

RT - The same has occurred for the oil shipping business idling many oil tankers. Instead of sailing and delivering ships are being used as storage!