According to maritime consultant Alphaliner, deliveries of new containerships have surpassed the 1 million TEU mark since the beginning of 2011, with 154 vessels delivered, and 280,000 TEUs more to come by the end of 2011.
 
Alphaliner said that “Non deliveries due to cancellations, deferrals and slippage have fallen to 8.5%, only twice their long term historical levels, as the bulk of the delivery deferrals was negotiated in 2009 and 2010.”
 
It added that “2009 and 2010 were exceptional years as the financial crisis led owners and carriers to defer the deliveries of a significant part of the order book, as well as to cancel part of their orders. Such crisis-driven initiatives were not to be repeated in 2011. Cancellations have actually been marginal this year with no impact on deliveries scheduled for 2011.”
 
Scrapping and conversions of older boxships since January 2011 have reached 65,000 TEUs, with a further 15,000 TEUs expected to leave the cellular fleet during the last three months of this year. As a result, the annual net growth rate of the containership fleet in 2011 is expected to reach 8.4%.
 
So far this year, 37 ships of more than 10,000 TEUs have been delivered, accounting for 47% of the total capacity delivered, and all of these vessels have joined the Asia Europe trades, with this route absorbing 64% of this year’s new capacity at 640,000 TEUs, including smaller ships of 6,500 to 10,000 TEU.