Alphaliner claims that the global fleet of idled (inactive) container ships continued its upward movement at the end of April despite the peak summer season approaches. During the last fortnight, the fleet increased across the board, except for the 1,000-2,000 teu and 3,000-5,100 teu ship classes.
According to the latest Alphaliner survey on April 25, 208 ships with a total capacity of 848,511 TEUs were recorded as idle. This represented 3.4% of the entire global cellular fleet capacity. While still low in the broader context, this percentage marks a new “peak” since the end of 2020.
Compared to our previous survey in mid-March, ship idling increased moderately by ten ships and 91,926 teu.
A large part of this increase came from a few larger ships that went in for repairs. This number includes ships awaiting their next shipyard slot and ships waiting to enter service after dry dock.
Vessels in repair yards continue to dominate the idle fleet at 74%. In the last two weeks, there was an increase of thirteen ships and 49,287 TEUs in capacity. The total number of ships in dry dock stood at 156 ships of 625,219 TEUs.
The ‘commercially inactive’ segment was flat with a decrease of three ships. In terms of capacity, the segment increased slightly by 19,396 TEUs, to stand at 52 units for 223,292 TEUs as of April 25.
Of this idle tonnage, the number of ships under the carrier’s control was reduced by a single ship, but increased by 50,535 TEUs in terms of capacity to reach 40 units of 209,080 TEUs.
Meanwhile, idle owner-controlled non-operating tonnage stood at twelve ships for 14,212 TEUs, down two ships and 7,896 TEUs compared to the previous survey. This represented just 6% of total commercially idled vessel capacity, the lowest level on record since the end of 2020.
Source: Alphaliner
