Container ship lay-ups now at 549,000 teu

New services launched for the summer peak season are now rapidly absorbing idle ships over 4,000 teu, and this is expected to continue, with the idle fleet expected to fall to 450,000 teu by the end of June.

The reduction in idled tonnage is all the more remarkable as it comes on the back of 1.12m teu of new buildings delivered over the last 12 months. There are, however, some 30 additional new buildings with total capacity of 270,000 teu which are already completed and ready to be delivered as soon as their owners solve financing issues.

It is predicted that the level of idling will increase at the end of summer owing to seasonal demand reduction and further new building deliveries. Also, the Euro’s fall against Asian currencies is expected to have a negative effect on Asia-Europe volumes.