Page 24: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (January 1996)

CONTAINERSHIP MARKET

HDW, whose APL containership was promi- nently featured on the cover of the December 1995 edition of MR/EN as well as in the "Great

Ships of 1995" feature (page 32, December 1995), offers a standard program of container- ships. In fact, high-tech containerships are con- tinuously under construction at HDW, and on the basis of the yard's many successes in the market, HDW is continuing to research and develop its designs. Within the system, HDW has built and delivered containerships for

Norasia Lines, APL, Hapag Lloyd, Cosco, Zim,

Megaslot and DSR. The yard's actual building program consists of a new design of sheltered, open-top containership, carrying 2,830 TEU, as well as of its new generation of post-Panamax containership, leading to container capacities of more than 6,000 TEU. Dr. Jurgen Rohweder at HDW views the containership market as promising in 1996. "The market will be stable.

We see that as the world economy grows,

Europe, the Far East and America will become closer via shipping ... and containerships will play a large part in that." He notes, however, that the biggest challenges lie not so much in the technical aspects of building container- ships, but in the political problems involved with overcapacity and decreasing prices.

Not an open and closed case

AIMU Study Points Out Pluses, Minuses Of Open-Top Containerships

A recent report on Open-Top Containerships from the American Institute of Marine

Underwriters (AIMU) concludes that hull/machinery underwriters are at no greater risk in insuring these vessels than when insur- ing conventional type vessels, due in large part to the stringent requirements set forth by the

IMO and governing authorities concerning the design and construction of open-top container- ships.

However, the report also concludes that for cargo underwriters, the risk of water damage to the contents of the containers is greatly increased by the fact that all containers in open-top holds are exposed to the elements.

The other potential danger lies in the fact that the containers on open ships are stacked up to 13 tiers high. AIMU said that if older contain- ers are stowed in the lower tier, and show some metal fatigue in their corner posts, the whole stack could collapse. On a more positive note, however, AIMU said the risk of losing contain- ers overboard from open-top containerships is greatly reduced. The cell guides on these ships are extended upwards from the hold to the fourth layer on deck, so that all containers are embraced by cell guides.

The report, prepared by AIMU's technical services committee, said several issues must be at the forefront of insurer's agenda: • The condition of the container will become more critical due to the increased potential for water exposure and crushing damage, especial- ly for those containers that might be stowed near the bottom of the hold; • Ocean cargo policies are often written with a "below deck" coverage warranty. Obviously, hatchless containerships will require under- writers to reconsider how, or even if, this type of warranty can be used; • In the event of either flooding of a hold or crushing/collapse of the containers, causing damage to the contents of those containers stowed in the bottom tiers, could the concept of general average be applied?

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