Active container ship capacity increased by 15.3 percent from the beginning of the year as ocean carriers are launching extra services in response to a larger-than-expected surge in global box traffic.
The active fleet stands at 13.32 million 20-foot equivalent units compared with 11.55 million TEUs on Jan. 1, according to Paris-based research consultancy Alphaliner.
The 1.78 million-TEU increase comprises 740,000 TEUs of new ships and 1.16 million TEUs of previously idled capacity now re-activated while 120,000 TEUs has been removed through scrapping and conversion to other ship types.
By contrast, active container ship capacity contracted by 2.3 percent in 2009, Alphaliner said.
The total cellular container ship fleet, both active and idle, has grown to 13.67 million TEUs from 13.06 million TEUs at the beginning of 2010.
Despite the arrival of new vessels, the idled fleet has shrunk from 1.51 million TEUs at the beginning of the year to 350,000 TEUs at the end of June.
Alphaliner attributes the drop in jobless container ships to the higher-than-expected recovery in cargo demand in the first half of the year and the impact of extra slow steaming which has absorbed an extra 320,000 TEUs since January.
Scrapping of older vessels has slowed significantly from the highs of 2009 to total 111,000 TEUs in the first six months of the year. An additional 8,500 TEUs were deleted through the conversion of cellular container ships into other vessel types, such as bulk carriers and sheep carriers.
The Journal of Commerce Online
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