DIMINISHING post-peak season forward demand and the cancellation of service upgrades by container shipping lines have led to a drop in enquiries, according to a broker source.
'September has been quite flat for cargo so far and owners are beginning to get nervous again,' an unnamed broker told London's Loadstar.
The broker cited the main issue being with mid-size vessels, which have suffered a significant decline in rates since their peak in April.
For instance, Alphaliner notes that Maersk Line 'snapped up' the 6,612-TEU Swansea recently for two-to-three months at only US$12,750 per day - half the rate it would have paid before the summer lull.
With Chinese Golden Week upon us, there has been the scrapping of numerous sailings and the situation is expected to get worse.
Indeed, blanked sailings on the Asia-North Europe trade lane alone have already meant 200,000 TEU of capacity being withdrawn.
Alphaliner warned the current idle containership fleet could swell from 408,000 TEU at present to 750,000 TEU by year-end.
'The likelihood of the idle fleet being cleared by next year has diminished,' said Alphaliner which expects that the build-up of excess tonnage 'will spill over into 2019' since a further one million TEU of newbuild capacity is slated for delivery.
'September has been quite flat for cargo so far and owners are beginning to get nervous again,' an unnamed broker told London's Loadstar.
The broker cited the main issue being with mid-size vessels, which have suffered a significant decline in rates since their peak in April.
For instance, Alphaliner notes that Maersk Line 'snapped up' the 6,612-TEU Swansea recently for two-to-three months at only US$12,750 per day - half the rate it would have paid before the summer lull.
With Chinese Golden Week upon us, there has been the scrapping of numerous sailings and the situation is expected to get worse.
Indeed, blanked sailings on the Asia-North Europe trade lane alone have already meant 200,000 TEU of capacity being withdrawn.
Alphaliner warned the current idle containership fleet could swell from 408,000 TEU at present to 750,000 TEU by year-end.
'The likelihood of the idle fleet being cleared by next year has diminished,' said Alphaliner which expects that the build-up of excess tonnage 'will spill over into 2019' since a further one million TEU of newbuild capacity is slated for delivery.