Posted on 09/18/2009 9:58:40 PM PDT by Vince Ferrer
Container shipping firm Maersk Line, part of Danish oil and transport group A P Moller-Maersk A/S, has laid up 12 ships and will lay up five more, the company told Danish online media epn.dk. The firm has previously said it plans to lay up 25 vessels of its fleet of 500, due to the overcapacity in the market, where newly built ships are still appearing and force companies to maintain low rates, which make operations unprofitable. According to epn.dk, however, Maersk Line's inactive ships are relatively fewer than in the case of its competitors.
The Danish group last month reported its largest-ever loss, as the net loss for the first half of 2009 amounted to DKK3.021bn, mainly due to Maersk Line, which had a loss of DKK5.4bn.
But the big point is, this is dead center in the peak of the peak season. The pre-peak back to school season was a dud, and now we still have laid up ships in the Christmas season. Retailers bet early this year that the recession would still be here for Christmas, and cut their orders.
Also, in a related story, here is a facinating video on Hulu about Chinese unemployment. If you have never been there, this is a very good video to just see life on the ground for an average Chinese caught up in the international economy.
Lash them all together and advertise it as a libertarian nation.
Actually...six months ago...there were business forums already chatting about this across the globe. People were dumping stock with the global shipping companies and preparing for a fair-sized fall.
Thanks for posting that link
LOL,,,
Hey that was already done, at least in pictures. I think they called it Waterworld.
or Bioshock... the video game
I guess I gave away my age, huh?
I remember Waterworld. Wish I didn’t.
UAW workers should have been forced to watch that video before 2008 - yeah I reakuze this video was made in 2009. Hussein will throw tens of billions at GM and Chrysler until 2012.
As far as Christmas? I was in a Sears last night and I never go into Sears. It was like a ghost town. You could hear the escalator 50 feet away because that was the only sound. Racks and racks of markdown clothes that no one wants. I think quite a few retailers will go bankrupt after Christmas 2009.
Hope and Change.
The big shipping stock collapse was last winter/spring. Some have recovered nicely since then, and I wouldn’t consider them bargains anymore.
Some are predicting Sears to be one of them. Sad, considering it is pretty much a company that pioneered and defined its industry.
I would not be surpised if Sears and Macys go into bankruptcy after Christmas. Sears also owns KMart.
But Obama will tell us tomorrow that “prosperity is just around the corner” so cheer up.
The video rehashes the collegiate platitudes of the soft sciences found there: Reagan bad, low taxes bad, consuming bad, America bad.
Wasn’t worth watching.
Check out SFL and NAT. I’ve held NAT @ $30 per share for ages. It has a nice dividend. SFK is low at the moment, but it isn’t as volatile as FRO or DRYS.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.