Idled Container Ship Count Falls

LONDON -- The number of idled container ships registered its first significant decline in more than a year in January, with almost 50 vessels returning to service over the past month as ocean carriers responded to stronger demand and rising freight rates.

The jobless fleet fell from 581 ships at the beginning of the year to 532 on Feb. 1, a decline of 142,000 20-foot equivalent units, according to Alphaliner, the Paris-based consultant.

The idle fleet remains a high 10.4 percent of the total cellular fleet, and with a large number of new ships scheduled for delivery through 2010, industry officials say the overall surplus likely will increase.

Deliveries in January alone reached 30 ships totaling 133,000 TEUs of capacity, the highest monthly level of deliveries since 2008.

The outlook for the liner shipping market has improved considerably over the past year as both volume and rate increases appear to be resilient, Alphaliner said.

Carriers’ optimism has been boosted by a stronger-than-expected surge in cargo demand in the pre-Lunar New Year period to mid-February.

Meanwhile, extra slow steaming is absorbing excess capacity quicker than anticipated, especially for larger vessel sizes.

The Shanghai Containerized Freight Index increased an additional 7.2 percent last week as spot freight rates on both Asia-U.S. and Asia-Europe trade routes rose significantly as they tracked rate increases imposed by ocean carriers.

Contact Bruce Barnard at brucebarnard47@hotmail.com.