Carriers continue to operate near-total fleet despite tariff and trade uncertainty

by Editor

Reading Time: 1 min read

The number of commercially idle container vessels rose marginally over the past two weeks, against a backdrop of high trade uncertainty which took a new twist this week when the US paused its tariffs against China for 90 days.

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Alphaliner’s latest report shows that the number idle ships increased slightly from 61 to 66 over the past fortnight, and from a total of 150,778 teu to 217,799 teu. So far, most of these vessels are primarily inactive for operational reasons, including service reassignments, rather than due to an actual lack of tonnage demand.

Despite confirmation from the second and fifth largest carriers Maersk and HapagLloydAG that between 30-40% of container volumes between China and the US were cancelled in April, this appears to have little impact on vessel deployment.

As of early May, total idled capacity as a proportion of the container fleet remained very small, at 0.7%. The previous fortnight’s level of 0.5% was the lowest in a year.

Meanwhile, the number of vessels undergoing repair, maintenance or conversion totaled 140 units of 560,846 teu, equivalent to 1.8% of the global fleet. This was slightly below a fortnight earlier, and marks the lowest level since the start of the year.

Alphaliner’s AXSInsights allows you to monitor all vessels either in active service, or commercially idle and in shipyards or repair docks.

Source: Alphaliner