The size of each new generation of car carriers implemented by the international car shipping industry to conduct car delivery services to markets around the world makes it necessary for one very important sector of the world’s port industry, and by association the car shipping industry, to constantly be striving for new ideas and ways of thinking, is the dredging industry. The dredging industry has stayed reasonably strong through the past two years of rough seas for international shipping and the business of delivering cars to market. There has been some consolidation in the dredging industry, as there has been in the business of taking cars to market, but the companies that have emerged appear to be stronger than ever and have begun investing in the future at a rate that could indicate the industry is going to grow in the years ahead.
The vessels used to transport cars to market are probably only going to increase in size in the future, so the job of keeping the waterways leading into the ports of the world is most likely going to be very important in the job of keeping the cars moving in the century of the environment. The increase in size of each generation of new vessels used to transport cars to markets means that the draft of each new generation is often bigger and thus the channels of the ports that service these larger vessels has to constantly be increased in order to allow for passage of large vessels.
Is there a limit to the size that car carrying vessels can be? This is going to be an interesting question, because many companies that ship cars are certainly ordering ships that carry more cars per transit in an effort to reduce costs. Will there be a point when the size of the ships used to transport the cars to market has reached a point that ship designers won’t want to go beyond? This is probably a very likely scenario in the future, for there must be engineering limits to all things. Just what the limits on the size of the vessels used to transport cars is going to be the interesting question? The vessels used today can transport thousands of vehicles at a time and it’s hard to fathom how they’ll be able to transport more cars on a ship, but they’ll think of something.