Liner shipping newcomer Focus Container Line has gone into liquidation.
The Australian operator has called in the administrators barely four months after launching its China to Australia and New Zealand container service.
Management told customers that the company would withdraw from the trade after the “incumbent services showed no mercy when it was required through a very difficult period”, according to a customer advisory seen by New Zealand-based media outlet BusinessDesk.
Liquidators James Taplin and Stefan Dopking of Brisbane-based BRI Ferrier were appointed on 14 February, according to a filing with the Australian Securities & Investments Commission.
Focus is the second small liner shipping start-up to fall victim to the collapse in container freight rates after UK-based Allseas Global Project Logistics went into administration in October last year.
Brisbane-based Focus began operating in November with two chartered feeder vessels.
The company chartered the 1,756-teu San Giorgio (built 2013) from Greek owner Eastern Mediterranean Maritime for three to four months at about $23,000 per day.
The San Giorgio rate was reported at the time to be about 50% higher than charters to longer-established operators.
Focus also fixed the 1,497-teu multipurpose vessel BBC Denmark (built 2012) for six to eight months at $28,500 per day.
The two ships were used to connect Ningbo in central China, Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne in Australia, as well as Auckland in New Zealand, according to Alphaliner.
New challenges
The BBC Denmark is currently anchored off Auckland, while the San Giorgio is heading for Hong Kong.
According to local media sources, the decision to wind up the company has left about 100 import and export containers snarled up at ports in Australia and New Zealand.
Focus is one of several liner shipping newcomers to move into the container sector during the boom, only to find the going tough as freight rates plummeted.
Other start-ups such as China United Lines and Ellerman City Liner of the UK have withdrawn services from the transpacific or Asia to Europe trade.
Some operators have shifted vessels to the transatlantic trade, where rates remain at profitable levels.
The only new operator to buck the trend and double down on existing liner services is Tailwind Shipping Line, the subsidiary of German supermarket chain Lidl.
Last week, Tailwind unveiled plans to launch a new service from Bangladesh to northern Europe in addition to its existing China-Europe service.
