The idle containership fleet is expected to breach the 3m TEU mark as lines blank more sailings and withdraw services according to analyst Alphaliner.
In its weekly newsletter Alphaliner said that with more than 250 scheduled sailings being withdrawn by container lines in Q2 due to the COVID-19 pandemic hitting demand the inactive fleet would surge past the 3m TEU mark surpassing a previous high of 2.46m TEU in early March.
“No market segment will be spared, with capacity cuts announced across almost all key routes. Apart from the Asia – Europe, Asia – North America and Transatlantic routes, carriers have also implemented capacity reductions in South America, the Middle East, the Indian Subcontinent, Africa, and Oceania,” Alphaliner said.
“While the larger ships will be cascaded to replace smaller units on the remaining strings, carriers will be forced to idle a large part of their operated tonnage. This will affect all size segments in the coming weeks.”
Nearly a third of the inactive fleet is in yards for scrubber retrofits with Alphaliner saying 1.02m TEU of capacity is in yards for such installations at present.