Having reached a recent low of around 100,000teu earlier this year, the volume of idle container capacity has been on the rise as freight and charter rates weakened and boxship owners and operators have found it harder to employ their vessels.
“The hefty imbalance between supply and demand leaves carriers with surplus tonnage that they will have to lay up, at least until volumes start to pick up again after the lunar new year,” Alphaliner says in its latest weekly report.