Runs out of banners for the ships (8)
I believe the answer is:
steamers
'the ships' is the definition.
(steamer is a kind of ship)
'runs out of banners' is the wordplay.
'runs' becomes 'r' (cricket abbreviation).
'out of' suggests deleting specific letters.
'banners' becomes 'streamers' ('streamer' can be a synonym of 'banner').
'streamers' with 'r' removed is 'STEAMERS'.
'for' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for steamers that I've seen before include "Transport" , "Old ships on sea terms" .)