Exclusive: 2017 ‘difficult transition’ for ACL as it phases in G4 ships

2017 has been a “difficult transition” year for ACL due to the phase in of its new G4 fleet and phase out of the old ships, its chief executive officer Andrew Abbott told Container Shipping & Trade.

“We are still making money ‒ probably the only carrier in our trade to do so ‒ but we could have made a lot more had our ships been on schedule with a stable capacity,” Mr Abbott added.

The five G4 ships are bigger, faster, more efficient and greener then the current fleet. At 3,800 teu they have double the capacity of the older ships but share the same footprint. But the revolutionary new design of the new ships has led to ‘teething problems’ during the year. On top of that, having a mix of 1850 teu G3 vessels and 3800 teu G4 vessels meant that ACL had to offer a big ship-small ship-big ship service. “We supplemented the small ship weeks with slots that we purchased ad hoc as needed. But our customers remained amazingly patient despite all of those ‘gymnastics’,” said Mr Abbott.

“The good news is that we are finally getting the ‘bugs’ out of the new ships, so the schedule will finally start returning to the reliability ACL has always been known for.” To ensure this, ACL will keep an extra G3 in service (operating a six ship schedule versus its usual five ship schedule) until next summer to get back to a day-of-the-week schedule and avoid the need to drop ports.

Looking ahead, Mr Abbott said: “2017 will be another difficult year for container shipping, probably much worse the 2016. Overcapacity will continue and probably worsen as more new ships are delivered, new shipping alliances come together and existing ships are cascaded down to smaller trades.

“For ACL, however, our cost picture will improve with a homogeneous fleet, an on-time schedule, a leaner organisation, more automated systems and more integration and synergies with our parent company, the Grimaldi Group. We are the most unique carrier in our trade, with unique ships, unique ports and unique cargo. So that should enable us to weather this protracted shipping ‘storm’ that shows no sign of abating.”