Idle fleet remains high

It rose marginally over the last fortnight to reach 1.51 Mteu or 11.6% of the total fleet as at 4 January 2010, compared to 1.48 Mteu two weeks ago. There are 581 idle vessels recorded by Alphaliner, including 9 VLCS vessels of above 7,500 teu currently unemployed.

The increase is largely due to the implementation of winter capacity adjustment with a number of large ships temporarily idled. The CKYH alliance carriers are the most affected by these adjustments. Non-Operating Owners (NOO) fleet grew from 637,700 teu a fortnight ago to 666,800 teu as operators continue to return surplus tonnage.