Too many new, big ships

CargonewsAsia.com has a very good article, or perhaps it's a commentary, stating the container carriers were just playing "follow the leader" when deciding to order new, much larger ships.

A disastrous game of follow-the-leader has pitched the container shipping business into a deep hole, says Sea Freight Correspondent Paul Richardson

Right now, container shipping is surrounded by doom and gloom and the chilling thought that as winter in the northern hemisphere approaches, there is little in the business to encourage even the most optimistic of optimists.
The whole idea of a market recovery underway seems as far from the truth now as it was six months ago, with a belief in shipping circles that the downturn still has several years to run.
"There is no doubt that the industry is in a mess," was a comment made over lunch by a prominent shipping executive in a plush London hotel last week. It seemed an understatement, but the executive wasn't finished. "We are like lemmings in this business, all intent in rushing headlong into a drowning sea."

I can't help but wonder, why was the lunch in a plush hotel? Shouldn't these guys be eating at the local pub?

Apparently, they still don't "get it".

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