Developments in Venezuela over the weekend will have little impact on the container markets as total container throughput at Venezuela’s ports have dropped significantly since 2012 when it reached a peak of 1.57m TEU. Total volumes handled at Venezuela have dropped to less than 500,000 TEU per annum since 2019 and currently accounts for just 0.5% of total Latin American container volumes. The potential recovery in trade volumes post-Maduro will take several years to be realized.
Container market sentiment has turned positive at the beginning of the year with TEU mile growth edging ahead of supply. Cargo demand across the Far East remain very firm ahead of the Chinese New Year holidays in February, with all main export tradelanes out of China and Southeast Asia (apart from the Transpacific) still soaking up all available vessel tonnage. Charter rates remain very firm especially for larger sizes above 4,000 TEU with charter tonnage currently fully sold out but the key test is still to come in March when demand cools and more ships are expected to return to the Suez route.
Johnson Leung
Container market starts the year on a high note
The global containership fleet has grown by 7.0% year on year, surpassing 7,100 ships for 33.5m TEU as at 1 January 2026. A total of 260 ships for 2.1m TEU were delivered in 2025, against just 21 ships for 17,000 TEU that were deleted last year of which 15 ships were scrapped, 5 ships were sunk and 1 was acquired for military use. A record number of 671 ships for 5.3m TEU were ordered in 2025 with the orderbook rising to an all time high of 11.7m TEU or 34.9% of the current fleet.
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