The torrent of new containership deliveries has started with #MSC setting new ship size records twice last week, with more ULCS units to come in the weeks ahead. MSC has widened its gap against Maersk to 587,000 teu with the divergence even greater if idled capacity is taken into account. #Maersk has 298,000 teu currently idled compared to just 68,000 teu from MSC, with the burden of idling excess capacity unevenly shared by the carriers. The idle containership fleet currently stand at 738,014
The active fleet has started to creep upwards and is now at their highest levels since 2020, reaching 17.7m teu on lower idling and drydocking positions as well as easing congestion in North America and Europe. The pick up in vessel scrapping has hardly made a dent on the overall supply of ships as it is limited to smaller ships. The delivery schedule for new ships is picking up as well, with over 2.5m teu of new capacity scheduled in 2023. The idle containership fleet continued to fall, with
Active fleet steady in past week. More ships entered yards for retrofits, after 2-year delay on the extraordinary earning up cycle.