Liner fleet glut tops 14 million TEU

THE capacity of the worldwide liner fleet has increased to 14 million TEU, or 185.4 million deadweight tonnes, according to Alphaliner records.

The Paris-based news and analysis agency, said the liner fleet comprises 5,905 vessels, including ships of all types that are deployed on liner trades, with cellular ships accounting for 95.9 per cent of the total, or 13.4 million TEU, of which 0.9 million TEU are currently idle.

The remaining 4.1 per cent is shared by non-celled containerships, multipurpose tonnage and ro-ro ships.

"It took 17 months to reach the 14 million TEU mark from the previous millionth landmark, almost twice as long than before. The longer interval has been largely due to the effect of the crisis, with delivery deferrals, increased scrapping and the shift of non-cellular vessels out from the liner trades," said the Alphaliner report.

(Source: www.schednet.com)