Record Big Vessel Deliveries to Hit Asian Lines: Freight

Container lines are losing money on Asia-Europe routes after slashing rates more than 50 percent this year because of a price war and excess capacity. In 2012, 42 of the biggest ships ever built will join the competition.

The record number of ships able to hold more than 13,000 containers entering service will be almost double this year’s tally of 22, according to Alphaliner and Clarkson Plc data. They will boost the total fleet to about 100. Ships this big are only used on Asia-Europe routes as they are too large for U.S. ports.