Post by dockside on Dec 5, 2008 13:15:08 GMT -5
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Box Capacity Down 7%
The JOURNAL of COMMERCE
December 5, 2008
By Bruce Barnard
Ocean container carriers have cut capacity on the three main east-west liner trade routes by 6.7 percent, or 61,000 TEUs a week, over the past four months amid stalling cargo volumes and falling freight rates.
Capacity on the routes linking Asia, Europe and North America fell from 916,000 TEUs a week to 855,000 TEUs a week in the four months to Dec. 1, according to AXS Alphaliner, a Paris-based container shipping consultant.
The Far East- Europe-Mediterranean trade saw the biggest drop, with weekly capacity down 9 per cent from 418,000 TEUs to 380,000 TEUs. Capacity on the Far East-North America route shrunk 5.5 percent to 357,000 TEUs from 376,000 TEUs and fell 2.5 percent on the Europe/Mediterranean-North America trade from 128,000 TEUs to 121,500 TEUs.
Meanwhile, container ship orders have fallen below 6.5 million TEUs for the first time in 13 months, AXS Alphaliner said.
“New orders have virtually vanished during the past two months while a few existing orders have been canceled or converted into other ship types.”
The world order book stood at 1,236 ships of 6.44 million TEUs on Dec. 1, equivalent to 52.2 percent of the existing fleet, compared with a peak of 64 percent a year ago.
Deliveries of new ships are running at an average of 4,350 TEUs a day, or some 130,000 TEUs per month, AXS said. The current container fleet now totals 4,651 vessels of 12.26 million TEUs.
Some 47 ships of 76,000 TEUs capacity have been scrapped so far this year, half within the past two months.
Box Capacity Down 7%
The JOURNAL of COMMERCE
December 5, 2008
By Bruce Barnard
Ocean container carriers have cut capacity on the three main east-west liner trade routes by 6.7 percent, or 61,000 TEUs a week, over the past four months amid stalling cargo volumes and falling freight rates.
Capacity on the routes linking Asia, Europe and North America fell from 916,000 TEUs a week to 855,000 TEUs a week in the four months to Dec. 1, according to AXS Alphaliner, a Paris-based container shipping consultant.
The Far East- Europe-Mediterranean trade saw the biggest drop, with weekly capacity down 9 per cent from 418,000 TEUs to 380,000 TEUs. Capacity on the Far East-North America route shrunk 5.5 percent to 357,000 TEUs from 376,000 TEUs and fell 2.5 percent on the Europe/Mediterranean-North America trade from 128,000 TEUs to 121,500 TEUs.
Meanwhile, container ship orders have fallen below 6.5 million TEUs for the first time in 13 months, AXS Alphaliner said.
“New orders have virtually vanished during the past two months while a few existing orders have been canceled or converted into other ship types.”
The world order book stood at 1,236 ships of 6.44 million TEUs on Dec. 1, equivalent to 52.2 percent of the existing fleet, compared with a peak of 64 percent a year ago.
Deliveries of new ships are running at an average of 4,350 TEUs a day, or some 130,000 TEUs per month, AXS said. The current container fleet now totals 4,651 vessels of 12.26 million TEUs.
Some 47 ships of 76,000 TEUs capacity have been scrapped so far this year, half within the past two months.