Fuel price drop sparks reefer ‘renaissance’, says Cool Carriers
Baltic Reefers could not have chosen a more apt time than it did back in August to buy Stockholm-based NYK Cool, which under the name Cool Carriers is steaming ahead with new produce trade contracts. CEO Boris Gersling says the specialized reefer trade had lost competitiveness with container lines in recent years due to high bunker costs, but a steady fall in fuel prices has put the category on a more level pegging.
Gersling says bunker prices have practically dropped by half in the last six months, which has had a “huge impact” on his business.
“For the specialized reefers the bunker expenses are a higher proportion of the total cost because we don’t have the same scale as the container lines do, so when the bunker price comes down it makes the specialized reefers more competitive,” he tells www.freshfruitportal.com during a visit to Chile.
