Hundreds of empty container ships sat idle off the coast of Singapore last year.
The world’s top container lines lost an average of $1,500 per 20-foot equivalent unit of fleet capacity while racking up an estimated $15 billion in operating losses last year, AXS-Alphaliner reported in its weekly newsletter.
The Paris-based information service said 18 of the top 23 carriers recorded operating losses totaling $12.9 billion in the industry’s worst year ever. Including carriers that don’t publish results, total losses by the big lines were estimated at $15 billion.