During the third quarter of this year, Wallenius Wilhelmsen will reactive the last three of its vessels that were placed in cold layup. The reactivated vessels will replace capacity sourced through short-term charters.
Earlier this year Wallenius Wilhelmsen decided to reactivate up to 12 of the 15 vessels placed in layup during last spring, as HLPFI reported here. Nine of these vessels have already re-entered service, while three are in the process of being reactivated and are due to start sailing again during the second quarter.
Customer demand, scarcity of capacity and rising rates in the time charter market continue to make reactivation of vessels a more cost-competitive option, said Wallenius Wilhelmsen.
“As previously stated, we expect the overall industry supply-demand balance to improve in the mid-term,” said Torbjørn Wist, acting ceo of Wallenius Wilhelmsen.
“Given the time required to reactivate vessels, we believe that the time is right to reactivate the remaining vessels that have been laid up due to the pandemic. Predicting the potential market impact of the ongoing pandemic remains a challenge, however we have the flexibility in our operations to adjust the fleet for any changing market conditions.”
