Despite that already 1.14 Mteu of new capacity has been delivered this year so far, the members of the three mega-alliances still lacked 36 ships to fully staff their 25 Asia – Europe loops as of Friday 10 May.
Taking into account that the average vessel size on this trade currently stands at 14,150 teu, some 509,400 extra slots are still needed. This represents 9.6% of the total capacity required to guarantee weekly sailings for all alliance loops.
According to Alphaliner, 376 ships are currently needed for 25 loops, compared to 321 for 27 loops one year ago. The extra ships are needed as 24 loops are being re-routed via the Cape of Good Hope due to the Red Sea crisis.
The CMA CGM-operated Asia–East Med–Adriatic ‘BEX2’ service, which is one of the four Ocean Alliance Far East – Med loops, is currently the only one transiting via the Gulf of Aden and the Suez Canal following its reinstatement in early May.
Source: Alphaliner
