The decline in the NOO fleet has slowed, according to industry analysts Alphaliner.
The fleet of Non-Operating Owners (NOO) in the 700 – 9,000 teu sizes, the most traded in the charter market, continued to shrink in the last twelve months, but at a slower pace.
Since Alphaliner’s last review in March 2025, tonnage providers lost a further 250,000 teu of capacity. This added to a net loss of 2.3 Mteu incurred since late 2020, when carriers started raiding the second-hand containership market in the aftermath the Covid-pandemic.
The last twelve months saw NOOs selling 130 vessels for around 380,000 teu to end users, who continued to tap significantly into the fleet. This is the main cause of the NOO fleet decline and it compares to 168 vessels for 633,000 teu sold to end users in the April 2024 – March 2025 period.
MSC was again, and by far, the biggest buyer of NOO tonnage, with 65 ships for 230,000 teu joining its fleet during the last twelve months up to March, of which only 17 units were already on charter to the Switzerland-based company. In total, MSC has bought a mind-blowing 415 NOO vessels for a whopping 1.6 Mteu since the carrier embarked on an unprecedented raid on the sale and purchase market in August 2020.
Tonnage providers meanwhile bought only a meagre 13,000 teu from end users in the April 2025-March 2026 period, while newbuilding deliveries to NOOs were a little more substantial, with 117,000 teu hitting the water during this period. The net gain of 250,000 teu shows a slowdown in the meltdown of the NOO fleet, compared to the previous years.
Source: Alphaliner
