Idled Charter Box Ships Hit Record

The fleet of idled container ships controlled by charter ship-owners reached a record high in September and exceeds the number of unemployed vessels controlled and operated by ocean carriers for the first time.

The non-operating owner fleet without work has risen to 654,000 20-foot equivalent units as ocean carriers shrink their capacity and return chartered ships to their owners when they come off hire, according to Alphaliner, the Paris-based container shipping consultancy.

The carrier-controlled idle fleet stood at 643,000 TEUs and has fallen below the non-operating owners unemployed fleet for the first time since Alphaliner started tracking the jobless container fleet last October.

The total idle container fleet stood at 548 ships of 1.3 million TEUs on Sept. 28, representing 10 percent of total capacity measured in TEUs or 11.6 percent of the total number of cellular ships.

There are 379 non-operating owner ships without work compared to 169 idle vessels controlled by ocean carriers -- both owned and chartered -- according to Alphaliner.

Contact Bruce Barnard at brucebarnard47@hotmail.com.