APL container ship

Singaporean shipping group Neptune Orient Lines Ltd (NOL), plans to increase capacity by around 7 per cent this year as shippers continue to recover from the global recession.

The company will charter as many as 10 vessels this year, and could return 10 more laid-up vessels into service by June, chief executive officer Ron Widdows said last week.

The group's container-shipping arm, APL, recorded its biggest monthly traffic jump in six years in January, as US and European retailers begin to recover.

According to Mr Widdows, volumes on transpacific routes could rise by as much as 5 per cent this year, with traffic between Asia and Europe growing even faster.

NOL has more than 140 vessels in its fleet, with around 65 per cent of those chartered, Bloomberg reported.

The company has already returned 15 idled vessels to service and is running 75 per cent of its fleet at reduced speeds, known as ‘slow steaming', to reduce costs.

'Slow steaming is going to be with us for a very long time,' Mr Widdows said.

Container shipping lines lost around US$20bn last year because of slowing trade, according to Drewry Shipping Consultants Ltd.

'All the big container companies are bleeding and this will be the year when they will try to break even,' said Drewry's head of Asian operations Divay Goel.

'The industry may take at least two to three years to recover to pre-crisis levels.'