Steve Ferreira knows a thing or two about container ships and on this episode of Navigate B2B, he goes into detail about what he calls “the container sandwich,” which is the assembly of the actual vessel, the container and the goods within that container.
Ferreira talks about the fate of the Maersk Essen and the major freight losses the vessel has sustained on its journey across the Pacific Ocean. He believes some major U.S. importers like Dick’s Sporting Goods may have sustained losses with the containers that went overboard.
He says hopefully the incident with this vessel will make shippers rethink how they load container ships, like adjusting stacking of containers or charging premiums for below deck storage.
There are two different types of vessels: asset-light container carriers and asset-heavy container carriers and Ferreira talks about the differences between them. Asset-light carriers don’t own the vessels and containers, whereas asset-heavy ones own the majority of the vessels and containers.
Ferreira says the differences can impact the freight rates each carrier gets, which give importers options depending on what those importers are willing to spend.
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