Many shippers will restructure their supply chains and charter ocean capacity direct

While Amazon's deal to charter Amazon's containers from Dachan Bay to Houston is understood to be a one-off, it resembles similar arrangements by Home Depot, IKEA, and Walmart that charter direct shipping themselves.

Star Lygra ship of G2 Ocean shipping line (Photo: G2 Ocean)

Following the move by e-commerce giant Amazon to ship its cargo containers on the deck of a multi-purpose vessel belonging to Norwegian shipping line G2 Ocean, the shipping line's CEO, Scott Krantzcke, said he expected the trend to continue "well into 2022".

Although the deal for the geared vessel - Star Lygra (equipped with a loading/unloading crane) - to charter Amazon containers from Dachan Bay to Houston, is understood to be a one-off, it is similar to agreements similar to Home Depot, IKEA and Walmart to acquire vessel capacity directly.

There is a difference, however, as G2 Ocean, a joint venture between Gearbulk and Grieg Star, carries 53ft containers, which are typically restricted to US domestic shipping. This type of container is longer than the standard containers used in long-distance transportation, and they have their own requirements for handling.

Mr. Krantzcke told The Loadstar that the multi-purpose vessel makes it ideal for transporting special containers. However, conducting container shipping from the decks of bulk carriers will have its own set of challenges, he added.

“It requires our technical team to undertake pre-planning for stowage and securing of the containers to ensure a safe and efficient voyage,” he explains. “We use ships’ cranes to perform the offloading operation, unlike many container vessels which use shoreside gantry cranes and straddle carriers.”

Mr. Krantzcke said arrangements were made with stevedoring workers to ensure the necessary equipment would be provided at the port of discharge, as gantry cranes could not be used.

“The bottlenecks at several major container hubs are driving customers to seek alternate solutions to their traditional supply chain model in order to service their markets,” he said. “G2 Ocean has an extensive network of tradelanes and ports to facilitate these alternate supply chain models.”

“The current environment is challenging for everyone across the supply chain. While that remains, we foresee more customers exploring alternative methods to organise their supply chain models in an effort to get their product to market and avoid shortages,” he added.

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