Revealed: The ghost fleet of the recession

Revealed: The ghost fleet of the recession
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-1212013/Revealed-The-ghost-fleet-recession.html#ixzz0R2sYEWRk

The biggest and most secretive gathering of ships in maritime history lies at anchor east of Singapore. Never before photographed, it is bigger than the U.S. and British navies combined but has no crew, no cargo and no destination - and is why your Christmas stocking may be on the light side this year




Here, on a sleepy stretch of shoreline at the far end of Asia, is surely the biggest and most secretive gathering of ships in maritime history. Their numbers are equivalent to the entire British and American navies combined; their tonnage is far greater. Container ships, bulk carriers, oil tankers – all should be steaming fully laden between China, Britain, Europe and the US, stocking camera shops, PC Worlds and Argos depots ahead of the retail pandemonium of 2009. But their water has been stolen.

They are a powerful and tangible representation of the hurricanes that have been wrought by the global economic crisis; an iron curtain drawn along the coastline of the southern edge of Malaysia’s rural Johor state, 50 miles east of Singapore harbour . . .

It is so far off the beaten track that nobody ever really comes close, which is why these ships are here. The world’s ship owners and government economists would prefer you not to see this symbol of the depths of the plague still crippling the world’s economies.

So they have been quietly retired to this equatorial backwater, to be maintained only by a handful of bored sailors. The skeleton crews are left alone to fend off the ever-present threats of piracy and collisions in the congested waters as the hulls gather rust and seaweed at what should be their busiest time of year.

Just 12 months ago these financiers and brokers were enjoying fat bonuses as they traded cargo space. But nobody wants the space any more, and those that still need to ship goods across the world are demanding vast reductions in price.

Do not tell these men and women about green shoots of recovery. As Briton Tim Huxley, one of Asia's leading ship brokers, says, if the world is really pulling itself out of recession, then all these idle ships should be back on the move...

The current downturn is the worst in living memory and more severe even than the slump of the early Eighties, Palsson believes.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-1212013/Revealed-The-ghost-fleet-recession.html

Wasn't there a 60 Minutes story of a bunch of ships waiting to be beached and than savaged? Also leaving harmful chemical waste behind in the water and land.

But things have been worse. In the dark days earlier this year many more ships were in layup - the ships anchored off Singapore represent a small part of the fleet. Some of them have been replaced by newer ships, others are storing oil or headed for the breakers once scrap prices improve.

Sure the shipbrokers are upset, they sampled wall-street style megabucks in 2007 and 2008 but now shipping rates are closer to "normal" and I'm guessing many of them are still paying for the multi-million dollar vacation homes they bought when the money looked like it would never end.

Go to Singapore.