Ships

Charter rates continue to diverge, remaining firm for the larger ships in the Panamax and larger segments while softening in the smaller sizes of below 3,000 teu. Demand in the larger sizes have been surprisingly resilient despite the ongoing weakness in the freight markets. All prompt vessels of 5,000 teu and above have been snatched up, with the tight supply to persist until the end of the year. But the supply-demand balance for smaller ships have started to weaken, with a significant number

Imoto Lines has received the first of 3 ships of 1,096 teu for the domestic Japanese trade with the KISO that was delivered on 10 May 2023 by Kyokuyo shipyard, although the first port call was made on 2 June 2023 at Kobe. The ship is deployed on the Yokohama, Tomakomai, Sendai, Yokohama route for its maiden service. Imoto will introduce 2 more sisterships to its domestic feeder routes by the end of this year. These ships are the largest ships in the Imoto, surpassing the 670 teu units that are

Transpacific vessel capacity is rising again after continuously dropping for the last 12 months, but remains 16.7% lower compared to the peak in April 2022. The recent increase was due to the injection of neo-panamax newbuildings of 13,000 to 15,000 teu into the transpacific trade. Meanwhile, Asia-Europe capacity has continued to increase due to the injection of new ships on the route, with the 2M announcing the addition of 9 more ships on their Asia-Europe services from June. Despite the reduc

Containership operating speeds have fallen by 5% since last year as carriers implemented slow steaming to cut operating costs. The speed reduction is most apparent in the largest size segments above 4,000 teu where operating speeds dropped by between 1 to 2 knots compared to just 0.5 knots reduction for ships of below 4,000 teu. According to Linerlytica’s estimates, slow steaming has helped to remove up to 6% of the effective vessel supply globally but the impact has started to reverse as  avera

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

The year ahead for the container shipping market will be largely driven by how carriers manage the capacity glut, with 2.56m teu of new ship capacity scheduled for delivery in 2023 against projected deletions of just 0.25m teu with overall fleet growth expected to at 8.8% compared to 4.1% in 2022. In addition, surplus tonnage is coming back from capacity rationalization and the impact of port de-congestion that would release much of the 10% of the fleet still tied down at port anchorages current

MSC is not slowing down its aggressive capacity expansion program despite the worsening market outlook. It has taken delivery of 7 more second-hand acquisitions so far this month, bringing the total number of ships acquired in the resale market to 306 units since 2020 (including units that were it had previously chartered). MSC was also linked to a package deal concluded with Costamare for 7 ships of 8,500-11,000 teu for forward delivery in 2025 for 4-5 year periods. Costamare also confirmed fo

8 ships were delivered in the last week of October bringing the total containership deliveries in October to 16 units for 130,923 teu. It was the highest monthly record for new ships delivered since 2019, but will be overshadowed by the expected surge of new ship deliveries expected in the coming 2 years. Matson announced an order for 3 LNG dual-fuel 3,620 teu ships of the Aloha class for an aggregate price of $1 Bn at Philly Shipyard, adding to 2 similar units that were delivered in 2018 and 2

Expectations of a surge in containership scrapping in the coming year is unwarranted as many of the older ships have been given extended lifespans in the last 2 years, having completed their class renewal surveys/special surveys that would push their useful lives until 2026-2027. Based on Linerlytica’s analysis of the containership fleet’s special survey due dates, there are less than 300 ships with a total container intake 700,000 teu that will have their 20 or 25 year surveys due in 2023, wit