Ocean liners are expected to take delivery of 230 new ships, adding 1.5 million TEUs to the world fleet, raising total global capacity by 9.5 per cent to 16.8 million TEUs, according to analyst Braemar Seascope’s Cellular Fleet Data.
The data says that of the 230 new containerships, 59 will have a nominal container capacity of 10,000 TEUs or more, making up 49 per cent of the global order book.
“The influx of new vessels next year will beat the previous annual record of 1.52 million TEUs set in 2007 before the economic downturn. Close to 80 vessels will be delivered in the first quarter alone,” it said.
“Bearing in mind that the vast majority of ultra-large containerships are deployed on Asia-Europe services, next year’s influx would be sufficient tonnage to create another five loops deploying ten 13,000-TEU vessels”.
This huge new capacity is expected to further erode weakened freight rates.