The non-operating owner (NOO) fleet of small to medium-sized cellular container vessels of 700 to 9,000 teu, the most traded in the charter market, lost a staggering 2.3 M teu of capacity in the last fifty-six months.
The plunge started in August 2020, when shipping lines, particularly MSCCargo and cmacgm started raiding the second-hand container market to expand their fleet, with NOO tonnage particularly targeted. The post-Covid cargo demand boom, coupled with cheap asset prices and a willingness to exert greater control on their fleets were key drivers in the carriers’ blitz on charter market tonnage.
Over 3.7 M teu of NOO tonnage representing around 850 vessels was actually sold to end users between August 2020 and the end of March 2025. However, this was partly offset by 1.2 M teu of newbuild capacity delivered to NOOs during this period as well as 221,000 teu of ships bought by NOOs from end users, giving a net overall capacity loss of 400 vessels for 2.3 M teu.
Among the 3.7 M teu of NOO tonnage sold to end users, there were a whopping 140 vessels of 5,300-9,000 teu for 1 M teu, as well as 199 vessels of 3,000-5,299 teu for 840,000 teu and 201 vessels of 2,000-2,999 teu for 516,000 teu changing hands.
Despite newbuild deliveries and marginal vessel acquisitions from end users, all NOO fleet sizes ended up this fifty-six month period with capacity losses, with the biggest deficit, 673,400 teu, recorded in the 3,000-5,299 teu sizes. The 2,000-2,999 teu sizes also ended with a shortfall of 312,300 teu while the 5,300-9,000 teu segment lost 201,000 teu.
Source: Alphaliner
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