he number of container ships that are currently idled at anchorages in various parts of the world has reached its highest figure in more than a year, according to Lloyd’s List Intelligence.
The report said that the idled fleet reached the equivalent of 705,994 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) last week, which represents 4.3 per cent of the total world fleet and is an increase of 34 per cent compared with the same period of 2012.
The highest percentage of ships idled are in the 3,000 – 4999 TEUs range, followed by those ranging between 1,000 – 2,999-TEU.
The highest number of idled container ships ever was reached in the slump of late 2009 when the equivalent of 1.5 million TEU vessel capacity was laid up.
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