EMPLOYED containership capacity has grown to its highest level in three years, fuelled by a surge in vessel deliveries, a reduction of idle tonnage and the slowdown in containership scrapping.
July deliveries totalled 219,000 TEU, the second highest level of monthly deliveries since 235,000 TEU mark in April 2011. That's 1.46 million TEU delivered against total deletions of 0.48 million TEU, reports Alphaliner.
Today's idle fleet stands at 230,000 TEU, vis-a-vis 445,000 TEU this time last year, raising total capacity of the employed fleet to 1.2 million TEU in August, for a year-on-year growth of 7.3 per cent over the last 12 months.
The increase did not impact the east-west trades as carriers have capped their expansion on Asia-Europe and transpacific routes, with large newbuildings cascading smaller ships out to other sectors.
While the total capacity deployed on these two main tradelanes grew 4.4 per cent and 4.8 per cent respectively, the increases were matched by strong demand growth.
The Far East-Europe trade recorded volume growth of eight per cent in the first half of 2014, while the Far East-US trade grew 5.4 per cent.
The outlook for the next 12 months remains challenging, with an estimated 1.6 million TEU due to be delivered between August 2014 and July 2015, while global demand growth is expected to remain patchy.
Most capacity increases were channelled to the Middle East, Intra - Asia and Africa. During the last 12 months, these three sectors chalked up capacity increases of 16 per cent, 13 per cent and 12 per cent respectively, absorbing a mix of both newbuildings and ships cascaded from other sectors.
WORLD SHIPPING
14 August 2014 - 20:43
Employed fleet grows to highest level since 2011
EMPLOYED containership capacity has grown to its highest level in three years, fuelled by a surge in vessel deliveries, a reduction of idle tonnage and the slowdown in containership scrapping.
WORLD SHIPPING
14 August 2014 - 20:43
Employed fleet grows to highest level since 2011 with new deliveries
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