Global Containership Fleet Still Too Big

Eugen Maersk
Drewry Maritime Research predicts a fall in the number of container ships on an annual basis this year for the first time in at least 20 years.
The container shipping industry has been struggling with overcapacity because of there are too few goods to transport on too many vessels as a result of the economic downturn.
This growth in capacity now comes solely from the increase in average ship size, not from having more ships, according to Drewry.
The total number of container ships amounted to 5,088 vessels as of August with a capacity of 17.8 million twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU).
That capacity has doubled in the past five years, global shipping association BIMCO estimates. During the 12 months to the end of March 2014, 192 ships averaging about 2,600 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) were scrapped, according to Drewrys Container Forecaster reports.
Demolitions are running at about 55 ships per quarter, it said. About 230 new ships of all sizes are scheduled to be delivered in 2014, or 55 per quarter, and the number of new deliveries will fall to about 180 in 2015.
Maersk Line, a unit in A.P. Moller-Maersk, has managed to bring down costs per unit by using bigger vessels. The largest container shipping company in the world has ordered 20 mega-size vessels with a capacity of 18,270 TEU.
Ten have already been delivered from South Koreas Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering.
The remaining 10 will be delivered and set on routes between Asia and Northern Europe later in 2014 and 2015.

Press Release, August 21, 2014