Summary: | 碩士 === 國立臺灣海洋大學 === 航運管理學系 === 101 === This study is going to investigate the strategies and decisions adopted by the container shipping industry when laying up the vessels until the market recovers in order to minimize the losses from the asset.
The paper firstly looks into the considerations and procedures throughout the process of lay-up container vessels, i.e. from de-activation till re-activation. Procedures to be considered include the following 7 steps.
1) Type of lay-up
2) Lay-up responding to save expenditure
3) Location for the lay-up
4) Third-party requirements to be met
5) By owners or operators themselves or through other companies offering lay-up service
6) Re-commission preparation and bottom hull cleaning before re-activation and hence re-joining the service
7) Clauses lay-up in Charter Party review if it is a chartered-in vessel to protect the interest of the Principal
Secondly, the evaluation of lay-up condition and the relevant costs to be incurred which will be further explored with a real case study of a container liner company laying up their tonnages during 2009 to 2010. Moreover, the Club Policy &; Returns of calls as well as other related parties’, such as Classification Societies and Flag States, compulsory requirements during the lay-up period will be discussed.
Finally, conclusions are made in view of lessons learnt from past experience and the information collected by conducting different interviews with shipping experts. Their aggregated perception on the importance of various factors affecting owners’ or operators’ decision on laying up the ships and the lay-up anchorage selection can provide a sound reference for liner companies who might intend to lay-up their vessels to overcome market depression in the future.
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