Lay ups expected to climb as peak season draws to an end

THE number of containership lay ups will climb in coming weeks as the peak season draws to a close, says the Paris-based Alphaliner Weekly Newsletter.

Service reductions will rise in September and October leading to more lay ups, said Alphaliner. This already follows three cutbacks, including the 20 per cent reduction in CKYH Alliance capacity on the Far East-to-Europe run.

CKYH carriers will cut 18 ships from service of 5,000 TEU or more, starting in October. Besides, Maersk, CMA CGM and Hyundai Merchant Marine are to suspend their joint Far East US east coast service, deploying eight 5,000 TEUers.

As it stands 1.27 million TEU lies idle at the end of August, said the newsletter. There are 524 ships without employment and that's 9.9 per cent of the world's container fleet, slightly down on the last week's reading.

Deliveries this month reached 73,000 TEU with 20 ships joining the operational fleet. Most new ships were immediately employed, including three 4,250 TEU vessels chartered by UASC for the India-Middle East-US east coast service, replacing smaller units of 3,800 TEU, which were re-assigned to the Atlantic east coast trade.

New deliveries remain low as finished ships increasingly remain at shipyards. An estimated 100,000 TEU of finished ships have yet to be delivered. Thus, the idle fleet is lower that it would be because these vessels are not yet listed.

Ships in the 1,000-3,000 TEU range remain the ones most likely to be idled with many carriers continuing to return chartered tonnage upon expiry dates of charters.

(Source: www.schednet.com)