Idled fleet surge begins



The past two weeks has seen the amount of redundant cellular capacity increase by 96,000 slots to 762,000 slots for 282 ships, according to the latest data from analyst Alphaliner.

This suggests that the coming weeks will see the mothballed fleet increase substantially.

Significantly, there are now 24 units of 5,000teu plus in lay-up – the consequence of the heavy culling by the liners in preparation for winter season service suspensions.

The US$498 million Q3 net profitable Maersk Line is leading the way with the most ships idled: 14 units of between 4,000teu and 9,600teu – a total lay-up of 94,000teu.

Moreover, the second-ranked ocean carrier, MSC, has also been obliged to embrace the concept of idling its tonnage, including the 13,050teu MSC Rapallo, which remains without employment since it was stood down from the Geneva-headquartered liner’s Far East-Med Tiger Service in early October.



The shipping lines with the most amount of capacity laid up are shown in the table below.
OperatorNo. of idle shipsIdle teu capacity
Maersk1494,777
HDS Lines829,861
MSC326,114
CSAV417,081
CMA CGM216,976
NYK314,766
MOL214,460
Zim29,912
Coscon19,469
K Line28,812
Horizon Lines46,398
Matson23,623
Hanjin12,932
Grand China Shipping12,680
Hyundai12,174

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