Idle box ship fleet creeps up but stays at record low - Bruce Barnard, Special Correspondent | Dec 12, 2014 10:08AM EST - JOC The idle container ship fleet crept up slightly over the past two weeks but remains at a record low, according to Alphaliner. There were 108 ships of more than 500 TEUs with a combined capacity 231,000 TEUs idle on Dec. 1, equivalent to 1.3 percent of the total cellular fleet, compared with 1.1 percent in mid-November, the industry analyst said. Despite the increase in idle ship capacity, the unemployed fleet is at its lowest level for December since Alphaliner started detailed tracking in 2008. The number of carrier-controlled vessels without work rose to 13 as five 4,000- to 9,000-TEU units became unemployed in the previous two weeks. These include Zim Integrated Shipping Services’ 8,440-TEU Zim San Diego, which is currently in Xiamen after completing an ad -hoc Far East-Europe voyage in November, and is expected to be without work for 10 weeks before undertaking another trip to Europe. The 8,600-TEU CSAV Tyndall, which has been transferred to Hapag-Lloyd following the completion of the merger of the Chilean and German carriers, has been unemployed for around 10 weeks and is not expected to sail again until late December. The non-operating owner idle fleet remained fairly stable at 95 ships of 188,000-TEU capacity on Dec. 1. While the U.S. West Coast ports have not resolved their congestion problems, carriers are responding to delays with ad hoc redeployment of surplus vessels, skipped sailings and increasing speeds.
Posted on: Sat, 13 Dec 2014 05:41:15 +0000
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