Idle boxship fleet growing

The number of containerships laid up is growing very fast according to French maritime consultant AXS-Alphaliner. It projects that the volume of containerships on standby will jump to the equivalent of 750,000 teu in early February this year, accounting for 6% of the entire global boxship fleet.

Alphaliner estimates that new build deliveries in 2009 will represent 14% of the current fleet while another 12% will join in 2010. Despite continued scrapping, the weak demand trends will fall well short of absorbing this net new capacity. Compounding the problem is that current bunker prices are reaching the point where the practice of “slow steaming” becomes uneconomical. In short, the idle fleet will expand considerably.

A report by the UK-based maritime consultancy company, Drewry, said the situation in the container shipping industry will further deteriorate in 2009 as shipping fleets are expected to grow while “demand patterns and outlook are poor”. “It is supply that will be the largest headache for the industry in 2009,” the report said.