THE idle container fleet worldwide has climbed to 548 ships, totalling 1.29 million TEU capacity at the end of September. This represents 10 per cent of the total fleet capacity, or 11.6 per cent of the total number of containerships.
Within this total, the non-operating owner (NOO) fleet of idle box ships has increased to 654,000 TEU, which the latest AXS-Alphaliner fleet survey described as being the highest level ever recorded.
The carrier-controlled idle fleet amounted to 643,000 TEU. Alphaliner's newsletter said that 379 NOO ships are without employment compared to 169 idle ships controlled by carriers (both owned and chartered).
"Carriers continued to favour larger ships at the expense of smaller vessels due to scale economies and the comparatively lower slot costs. This also led to the redelivery of smaller chartered ships on the spot market where they have difficulty finding employment.
Additionally, rationalisation of services run with 1,000-2,000 TEU tonnage has led to an increase of idle tonnage in this size range," the newsletter said.
"With the closure of a number of high capacity loops due to become effective in October, the idle containership fleet is expected to rise in the fourth quarter. The idle figures would have been higher if not for the late/postponed delivery of several large ships that were due to join the fleet in September but have been deferred to subsequent months.
" The newsletter also noted that in the charter market short term fixtures of one-to-two months have become "the norm," as very few operators are said to be willing to commit to longer term new fixtures.
Alphaliner said the outlook for the next few months remains negative as "the end of the peak season will likely see a further surge in the idle fleet numbers.
Several service withdrawals and rationalisations will fully take effect from October/November and this will likely push idle capacity figures to a new record high by the end of the year."
Source : HKSG, 02.10.09
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