With essentially zero idling and no slack in the container vessel fleet, ship recycling has come to a near standstill.
The number of cellular container vessels reported sold for demolition fell to negligible levels in the first half of 2025, with only ten ships for a total of 5,454 teu changing hands for recycling.
By comparison, 34 vessels for 48,600 teu had been sold for demolition in the same period of an already lacklustre 2024, with a further 23 ships for 32,400 teu disposed of in the second half.
Healthy freight and charter markets, boosted by both the Cape of Good Hope diversions and sustained cargo volumes across the globe, have explained in great part shipowners’ reluctance to dispose of their older tonnage in the first half of this year, preferring instead to make the most of the lucrative markets.
For carriers, keeping older tonnage going also resulted from lessons learnt from the multiple disruptions of the last few years (COVID, Red Sea, tariffs, congestion, strikes, strained supply chains), where having some fleet ‘overhang’ has been welcome to face unforeseen events.
Demolition sales have so far this year only included small ships below 1,000 teu. The largest vessel sold was the 803 teu, 2005-built SOLONG, which suffered a devastating fire after a collision off the UK in March.
Source: Alphaliner
