Alphaliner Sees No Container Shortages

The container shortages that exacerbated the shortage of vessel capacity last year will not be a problem during this year’s peak season, according to Alphaliner.

The industry analysts said the tight supply of container equipment seen in early 2010 eased significantly in the last quarter despite warnings of oncoming shortages this year.

Leasing companies and ocean carriers have ordered sufficient numbers of new containers during the last 12 months, while demand growth has failed to match earlier projections.

There are more new containers available this year than some carriers expected and that the supply will meet demand this year and over the next two years, “based on current production and deployment patterns,” Alphaliner said.

With an inventory of unused new containers estimated at more than 800,000 20-foot-equivalent units, the supply should be large enough to meet demand for the remainder of the year. The falling demand for containers has already seen prices for new TEU dry containers drop from $2,900 at the beginning of the year to less than $2,500 per TEU.

In addition, the carriers’ ratio of new containers to the on-board slot capacity of the new ships that have been delivered now lies below 2-to-1. Alphaliner estimates that the container-to-slot ratio of the top 22 carriers currently averages 1.71.

Over the next two years, the projected annual production of up to 4.5 million TEUs of new containers will be enought to meet the demand from new containerships that enter the market and from the replacement of old containers.

Alphaliner estimated that the new ship deliveries will require 1.4 million TEUs of containers in 2012 and 1.8 million TEUs in 2013. It put the need for replacement of old containers at 1 million TEUs in each of the next two years.

-- Contact Peter T. Leach at pleach@joc.com. Follow him on Twitter @petertleach.