The maritime sector has experienced stormy weather in recent years. Within the sector, the reefer market was somewhat spared. Walter Wildöer, general manager of Seatrade, can even look back on the past two years fairly positively. The shipping company invested in new boats and started new routes.
Seatrade’s investments were closely followed by other shipping companies in recent years. The company, specialised in conditioned transport, invested in new reefer boats, which are completely containerised. While this investment was explained by some as a change by Seatrade to containers, the shipping company sees things differently. The conventional reefers also had containers on deck. The only thing that’s changed is that the reefer containers can now also be placed below deck. The new specialised reefer boats are good for 2,200 TEU, which amounts to 600 to 700 plugs.
Walter Wildoer from Seatrade.
New routes
The market for containers is completely different from that of reefers, Walter explains. “The past two years weren’t bad for specialised reefers. All of our lines were full.” That was different in the container segment. Investments were postponed, boats sailed with 40 to 50 per cent of capacity filled, and prices became aggressively competitive. “The container shipping companies are mostly commodity driven, so sales are as well. Controlling tariffs becomes more difficult because of that, so you should be dedicated to capacity. That can be seen in takeovers,” Walter explains. “We now see that the market is in a transitional phase.”
Although the reefer market wasn’t in stormy weather directly, the situation on the container market has affected the reefers. However, Seatrade sees room to grow. Besides the investments in new boats, the first four of which started sailing the New Zealand routes, the shipping company is also looking at new routes. During the past season, the company started a direct connection between Morocco and Russia. The line was completely containerised. “During the first week, we had a coverage of 80 per cent. The weeks after that, we haven’t been under 90 per cent,” Walter continues. “Thanks to the Fast, Direct and Dedicated method, we managed to shorten transit time between the countries by three to four days.”
Charter boats and track & trace
For that matter, the shipping company chooses a careful growth strategy. Chartering boats is limited to a minimum. “We prefer to sail with our own crew,” Walter says. “Quality is decided by that.” The biggest discussion between shipping companies and charter boats is the answer to the question whether the crew is responsible for the shipment or not. “It’s an attitude difference between our own crew and the charter boat’s crew,” Walter continues. “That’s why we don’t just want to work with charter boats. Our crew is responsible for the shipment.”
According to Walter, this discussion is the basis for the rise of data loggers that he sees at other shipping companies. “Our entire reefer fleet has been equipped with a track & trace system. Existing and new customers receive a report with this data,” he explains. “Our customers think this is normal. Everyone who has had a shipment aboard one of our boats, was already used to it. We now see that it’s being rolled out throughout the sector.”
Speed and shelf life
The containerisation of the reefer market is connected to the logistics on land. Containers are used more and more often on land as well. Compared to the sea giants servicing container shipping, Seatrade’s reefer boats are small. Walter explains that this coincides with the credo ‘Fast, Direct and Dedicated.’ By continuing to choose specialisation of reefer shipments, a shipowner will decide on a smaller boat. “Maersk and Hamburg Süd also have a reefer service on Antwerp according to the same FDD principle. That therefore means that they also use smaller boats.”
Fast reefer services are advantageous for the shelf life of products. “Retail gets a better grip on the supply chain, and that’s profitable.” Just for retail, five per cent of fruit and vegetables is thrown away because the products are overripe or unsellable for different reasons. “That’s a major debit for supermarkets. Retail sees the value of a longer shelf life and the benefits of specialised reefers and the FDD supply chain,” Walter concludes.
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Seatrade
Walter Wildoer