Diseconomies of Scale of Mega Containerships

Mega containerships increasingly defeat their very raison d'être: To be filled, they call at more Asian ports than before, picking up containers at random. To unload, stack them in yard, and clear them through the gate, is a port’s greatest headache today. The ensuing mess could cost a large terminal up to 3 million dollars a week and regulatory authorities are looking into this situation. The fact that 95% of international trade is handled by four shipping alliances does not help matters much either. HH