Ships

MSC’s sweep of second-hand containership tonnage since 2020 has brought its total resale vessel acquisitions in the last 4 years to more than 420 ships. MSC’s unprecedented acquisition spree has removed more than 17% of the total fleet that are available for charter in the 800 to 15,000 teu size segment and has been a key driver behind the sharp rebound in charter rates this year. The shortage of charter market ships have forced carriers to fix forward for their favoured tonnage with deliveries

From Weekly Market Pulse published on 22 Oct: Year to date new containership deliveries have already surpassed last year’s record of 2.3m teu with 2.5m teu already handed over this year and a further 0.5m teu is still due to be delivered before the year is over. Full year fleet growth is expected to reach 10.1% with limited scrapping and delivery slippage. Just 78,200 teu have been scrapped so far this year, with the current run rate at less than 5,000 teu deleted each month as the strong dema

Charter rates continue to move on 2 different tracks with the larger sizes of over 4,000 teu continuing to power ahead while the rates for the smaller sizes are easing gradually. Carriers are still scrambling to secure all available tonnage in the larger segments with forward deliveries now stretching into 2Q 2025. CMA CGM, COSCO, Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk were the most active carriers with various extensions and forward fixtures concluded in the last 2 weeks. Hapag-Lloyd has taken 4 units of the

Carriers are rushing to secure ship contracts despite rising newbuilding prices and growing concerns over over-capacity by the time these ships hit the water in 2027-2029. COSCO is the latest carrier to join in the new order frenzy with a fresh order revealed last week for 12 units of 13,700 teu at its COSCO Yangzhou shipyard for delivery over 2027-2029 bringing the total capacity contracted in August to a record high of over 1.4m teu, including several Letters of Intent (LOIs) that are expect

The newbuilding market remains red hot with PIL the latest carrier to jump in with a new order for 5 LNG dual fuel units of 13,000 teu at Hudong Zhonghua announced on 19 August 2024. The ships are aimed at the Latin America trade with deliveries starting from late 2026. Wan Hai also confirmed LOIs for 16 new methanol dual fuel units of 8,000-8,700 teu at CSBC and Hyundai Samho. These orders bring the total containership newbuilding capacity contracted since the start of 2024 to 2m teu, with the

CMA CGM has retained the Suez routing for its Asia-Med Phoenician Express (BEX2) service despite escalating tensions in the Middle East over the past week after Israeli forces attacked the port of Hodeidah in Yemen on 20 July in retaliation for the Houthi drone attack that hit Tel Aviv on 19 July 2024. The Phoenician Express (BEX2) calls at Shanghai, Ningbo, Busan, Shekou, Singapore, (Suez Canal), Alexandria, Beirut, Tripoli, Koper, Trieste, Rijeka, Alexandria, Jeddah, Port Klang, Shekou, Shang

MSC has acquired 2 newbuilding contracts for a pair of 14,000 teu ships currently under construction at Jiangnan Shipyard from BAL Container Line for $133.3m in total or $66.65m for each ship. BAL's parent company, LC Logistics, will book a profit of $49m from the sale as the book value of these ships stand at $84.3m for the first 2 installments paid to Jiangnan for the construction of the ships so far. The 2 ships were ordered by BAL in June 2022 and are scheduled for delivery in July and Sept

The global containership fleet has exceeded the 30m teu milestone for the first time with 51 new containerships delivered in June, bringing the total number of ships delivered in the first 6 months of this year to 271 units for 1.68m teu. A further 1.49m teu is scheduled for delivery later in the 2nd half of the year with only minimal slippages expected. The 2nd quarter is the peak of the current delivery cycle, with an average monthly delivery rate of 315,000 teu at almost 2 new ships joining

The United States Trade Representative (USTR) initiated an investigation on China’s maritime, logistics, and shipbuilding sectors on 17 April 2024 based on the petition filed by 5 US labor unions that alleged unfair policies and practices to undermine fair competition and dominate the market. Amongst the proposed remedies to address China’s dominance is a fee on vessels built in China that dock at US ports. Although containerships built at Chinese shipyards account for only 27% of the current f

The average age of the containership fleet currently stands at 13.8 years, although it drops to 11.1 years if calculated on a teu-weighted basis due to younger age of the larger ships. Amongst the Top 15 carriers, MSC has the oldest fleet with an average age of 16.8 years while Maersk has the oldest fleet on teu-weighted terms at 12.8 years. Despite the aging fleet, carriers have been slow in scrapping their older tonnage, with just 163,000 teu scrapped year to date compared to new deliveries