Car Carrier NYK Mothballing Ships, Car carrier shipping

Japanese car carrier NTK, the biggest car carrier firm in the world, has announced that it expects its car carrier business and the car carrier industry in general to experience a decrease as the vehicle market they were expecting to sell the majority of their vehicles in has dried up, the North American market. Predictions are that Japanese manufacturers will be reducing production in response to recent numbers for December that indicate car exports went down by over thirty percent. The numbers for Japanese vehicle exports in December certainly match the numbers for vehicle sales in the United States for December, which was also down by over thirty five percent, during the month of December. Japanese firms are probably a little nervous over the numbers, which are the worse since they started recording the numbers, back in 1972. The rumour mill says that Japanese car carriers have been asking vehicle manufacturers for information on the numbers of vehicles they plan on shipping in 2010, but they have heard nothing but silence, so far.

NYK announced that it might mothball up to twenty car carrier ships, in addition to the twenty or so it was planning to mothball by the end of March 2011, in response to the predicted downturn in business. This seems like a sensible decision, considering the current numbers and expectations in the near future. Other Japanese firms in the auto industry are also getting prepared to reduce production in response to the lack of demand for vehicles and if car manufacturing goes down, so does the demand for car carrier services.