BIMCO: record high ship deliveries boost box ship fleet capacity by 4.3%

Ship recycling is also expected to increase in the coming years. More energy-efficient ships will replace less efficient ones as owners aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Despite recycling older ships, the fleet is still expected to grow by approximately 4.5M TEU between early 2023 and early 2025, increasing fleet capacity by nearly 18%.

The increase in fleet capacity comes at a time when current trade growth in many key regions is declining and global economy growth prospects for the coming years are weakening.

According to Container Trades Statistics, total global container volumes during the first half of 2023 fell 4.3% year-on-year and ended only 0.2% higher than during the first half of 2019. The all-important head-haul and regional trade lanes fell a combined 4.9% year-on-year but remained 3.1% higher than during the first half of 2019.

Fortunately, the head-haul and regional trade lanes improved in Q2 as volumes fell 2.0% year-on-year and were 5.3% higher than in 2019.

Highlighting the current time charter and freight rate market weakness, head-haul and regional trade volumes have grown 5.3% compared with Q2 2019 while fleet capacity has grown 17%. Future supply growth may be tempered by reduced sailing speeds but further fleet capacity growth of about 15% in the coming year and a half underlines how supply side growth will remain a challenge for shipowners and operators.

*Editor’s note: this article first appeared on BIMCO’s website. 

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