The shuffling of container shipping alliances in 2025 is prompting liner operators to fight for market share, impeding capacity discipline, despite a relentless fall in freight rates, reports The Loadstar.
Linerlytica’s report today notes that just 37 box ships, amounting to 77,185 teu, equivalent to 0.3% of the active fleet, are currently unemployed.
The operators’ unwillingness to trim capacity makes it difficult to enforce a planned GRI of $1,000-$2,000 per 40ft for Asia-Europe services on 1 November.
Recent Strikes
While in the wake of the recent strikes along US east coast ports, Asia-USEC capacity dipped 3% year on year, to 254 ships, of 2.72m teu, while slot supply on the Asia-US west coast went up 22%, to 312 ships, of 2.67m teu.
Linerlytica said: “Carriers have failed to adjust Asia-North Europe capacity to match the reduction in cargo demand, with scheduled capacity from Asia expected to rebound by over 25% in the coming weeks. Apart from selective void sailings, none of the carriers on the Asia-Europe route is planning any winter capacity reductions. This would jeopardise their efforts to arrest the decline in freight rates.”
Linerlytica noted: “There’s limited vessel availability across all size segments, and forward fixtures are now a common feature, even for ships of 1,500-3,000 teu, where previously they were limited to the larger sizes.”
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Source: Loadstar
