Boxship Deliveries to Outpace Scrapping in 2017
THE sizeable number of ultra large containerships due to be delivered in 2017 is expected to drive containership fleet growth this year, despite increased levels of scrapping, according to Alphaliner.
According to MANA, “Some 78% of the 1.7m teu of new containership capacity scheduled to be added to the fleet is concentrated on ships above 10,000 teu,” Alphaliner said.
The overall delivery figure is expected to be twice as high as Alphaliner’s 750,000 teu containership scrapping forecast for 2017.
“Even accounting for a potential slippage of about 250,000 teu, with some deliveries likely to be deferred by shipowners, the projected capacity additions would still reach 1.4m teu, with net fleet growth after slippage and scrapping forecast to reach 3.4% this year,” Alphaliner said.
The relatively high fleet growth rate, compared with the low 1.5% growth rate recorded in 2016, when only 930,000 teu was delivered, would prolong the overcapacity and further delay the recovery in the container shipping market, Alphaliner added.
Newbuildings would also add to the idle ship pool, which currently stands at 1.4m teu.