shipping container leasing industry, according to Textainer Group
CEO John A. Maccarone, who made the comment at the Informa
Intermodal 2008 conference in Hamburg.
At present, between 45 and 50 percent of all new shipping
containers are supplied by leasing companies, in contrast to the
low of 35 percent seen in 2006. The previous slump, according to
Maccarone, was caused by improving freight rates and easy credit
access, faciliting the outright purchase of containers by shipping
companies.
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Since the onset of the financial crisis, however, low cargo
volume growth and declining rates have seen shipping lines turn to
leasing again, he said. Mr Maccarone was optimistic that this trend
would continue in 2009.
He provided the caveat, however, that much sharper rates of
decline in cargo volume might cause shipping company bankruptcies
and destroy demand for new containers, hurting lessors in the
process.
In any case, Maccarone acknowledged that 2009 would see lessor
consolidation. “Less well financed leasing companies will look for
bigger partners before they run the risk of going bankrupt,” he
said.
DVB Bank’s Eric Snellen commented that in 2009 the container
leasing market was likely to be more lucky than most in terms of
funding:“Investors like containers because they are low-tech assets
and generate stable cash flows,” he said.
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