London's Drewry Maritime Research sees the second cascade of bigger box ships from the Asia-Europe run to the smaller north-south trades as "potentially more destructive" than the first, reports Lloyd's Loading List.

"The second phase of the cascade will be even more difficult for carriers to manage. The bigger ships that will need to be moved will stretch the ability of ports to handle them," said Drewry.

Ten years after the launch of Maersk's E-class ships that brought about a leap in ship sizes, the introduction of mega ships started a race to catch up that has pushed on to building of 20,000 TEUers.

This, Drewry says, has had huge consequences for the industry, representing one of the biggest for carriers.

Source：Shipping Online.cn