Idle fleet expected to rise by year end
The idle containership fleet has fallen to 549,000 TEU as at 24 May 2010 according to Alphaliner’s fortnightly survey, down from a peak of 1,522,000 TEU at the beginning of December 2009.
This reduction of almost 1 Mteu of idled tonnage over the last six months has come faster than expected, resulting in vessel shortages in the size segments above 4,000 TEU. New services launched for the summer peak season are now rapidly absorbing idle ships over 4,000 TEU and this is expected to continue during June. The idle fleet is thus expected to fall to 450,000 TEU by the end of June.
The reduction in idled tonnage is all the more remarkable as it comes on the back of 1.12
Mteu of newbuildings delivered over the last 12 months. There are however some 30 additional newbuildings with total capacity of 270,000 TEU which are already completed and ready to be delivered as soon as their owners solve financing issues. These ships are still under yard control and are thus excluded from the idle fleet count (for which only existing ships are taken into account). Several of them are due to be delivered in the coming weeks and are already designated to join new or existing services.
The level of idling is expected to rise again in late summer as a result of the seasonal demand reduction and of further newbuilding deliveries. Also, the Euro's fall against the Asian currencies will have a negative effect on FE-Europe volumes. The idle tonnage is forecast to reach 1 Mteu by the end of the year.
