Maiden Voyages Postponed Due to Low Demand

As the global shipping market continues to balance the introduction of newly purchased ULCV ships with low demand, a number of maiden voyages have been delayed this year.

The latest, according to a report in The Loadstar, is the 24,346 teu 'MSC Micol', which was scheduled to make its maiden voyage from Shanghai on 12th October. However, that voyage has now been postponed until January, due to low demand and the aggressive carrier blank sailing programme.

Naturally, MSC will be disappointed to have cancelled the vessel's first journey, but this is believed to be a better alternative to the vessel arriving half empty in Europe to the fanfare of a maiden call.

The 2M partners, MSC and Maersk have announced 29 more blank sailings from September 29th for China Golden Week and beyond, largely due to forecasted reductions in demand during that period.

MSC are not alone in delaying a maiden voyage this year as the new build ships continue to flood in. August saw 180,000 teu of new build capacity added to the market, which followed 200,000 in July and a record 300,000 in June.

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