Idle boxship fleet dipping

The reduction in the idle fleet was due to several factors:-

• The reactivation of some of the larger vessels due to extra slow steaming undertaken by some carriers on the long haul trades.

• New service launches in the last month, mainly in the smaller sizes of between 1,000-2,500 TEU.

• A limited number of extra loaders being deployed for the pre-Lunar New Year cargo rush. These extra loaders are largely for the Asia-Mediterranean trades.

The recent surge in demand came despite a record number of new deliveries made in January. This has lead to the number of idle ships dropping from 562 units a fortnight ago to 532 units currently. In capacity terms, the idle fleet now stands at 1.37 MTEU compared to 1.44 MTEU two weeks earlier.

The carrier-operated idle fleet fell from 198 units (791,000 TEU) to 188 units (744,000 TEU) while non-operating owners saw their total idle fleet fall from 364 vessels (647,000 TEU) to 344 vessels (624,000 TEU). The fall in the number of idle ships only had a limited impact on charter rates, which have remained largely unchanged except for the large sizes where demand has picked up, relative to the number of available vessels. For the smaller vessel categories, the size of the surplus fleet remains significant and is likely to remain high for a while.