Active box fleet dropped 4% over past year

The combined active fleet operated by the top 24 container carriers has declined by

4% over the last 12 months, according to an exclusive survey by Alphaliner. The active fleet operated by the carriers surveyed, currently stands at 10.43 Mteu compared to 10.86 Mteu in September last year, before the market started its precipitous drop.

If the current idle fleet of the same carriers is added to the numbers, the total operated fleet stands at 11.10 Mteu, reflecting the fact that 6.1% of the carriers? fleet is currently idle. The idle figure would have been higher if carriers had not undertaken

measures to trim tonnage: returning chartered vessels to their owners, delaying the delivery of new vessels and disposing of old ships which were sent to the breakers.

Despite the size reduction in the overall active fleet, seven carriers managed to increase their active capacity. In case of most of the gainers however, the size gain was more or less forced upon them since both owned and chartered tonnage, fixed before the start of the current crisis, was delivered. These carriers have little or no idle capacity and they have managed to increase their market share in the process.

MSC is leading the group of the gainers with a 105,000 teu increase in vessel capacity compared to one year ago. Percentagewise this is a 10.6% increase in fleet size. The other significant gainers were CMA CGM and UASC with 58,000 teu and 22,000 teu added respectively to their active operated fleet during the same period.