Alphaliner in its latest weekly report says that idle capacity within the above 500 TEU container ship fleet is still “stubbornly high,” with data showing that there was 357 units for 1.504 million TEU of unemployed capacity as of November 28.
Increased chartering activity within the 1,000-2,000 TEU vessel range is credited with helping to decrease the number of idle ships in that size range from 84 units to 73 vessels over a two week period, says Alphaliner.
Meanwhile, in the Panamax 3,000-5,100 TEU segment, a small decline in the idle fleet was also observed, falling to 116 units from 119, which was attributed to both chartering activity and scrapping.
10 ships within the 3,100-5,000 TEU range are noted to have been sent for demolition during November.
“Prospects for these large ships are expected to remain dim until next spring
Alphaliner
“The decrease in the idle fleet in the two aforementioned size ranges was however insufficient to counter the rise in large ships idlings, with 90 units of 5,100 TEU to 13,000 TEU without employment,” said Alphaliner.
“Prospects for these large ships are expected to remain dim until next spring, when the launch of the OCEAN Alliance and THE Alliance Services, scheduled for April, will spur chartering activity.”
The latest data shows that, while the idle fleet has grown since November 14, when there was 1.49 million TEU of idle capacity, are still below a record high of 1.59 million TEU reached a month ago.
Last month Adrian Tolson, Senior Partner at 20|20 Marine Energy, warned that ongoing woes for the box sector would mean a tough 2017 in the bunker markets.
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Source: Alphaliner
