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Idle box fleet shrinks in November to lowest level since 2008

CONGESTION at US west coast ports and the severe clogging of Manila along with the reluctance of shipping lines to pull out more services in the slack season has led to the lowest level of vessel idling since the 2008 downturn.

The idle global fleet of over 500 TEU as of November 17 has declined to 105 units for 202,000 TEU, accounting for 1.1 per cent of the total cellular fleet, said Alphaliner.

Analysts attributed this year's low level of idling to port congestion on the US west coast, which keeps ships in service however inefficiently, their report said.

Waiting for berthing windows at the San Pedro Bay ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach has also caused some ships to miss their sailing slots.

Manila has been plagued with severe congestion since the middle of the year, numerous extra vessels of 1,000-2,500 TEU are being brought onto Manila services, allowing a substantial reduction of unemployed ships in this size range.

Another factor is shipping lines' reluctance to shelve more services over the slack winter season.

So far, only the G6 carriers have made significant service cutbacks for the winter season, having announced the withdrawal of three loops (one service each on their Far East-US east coast, FE-USEC and North Europe-US networks).

However, the impact of the G6 service suspensions will only be fully realised in December, when the ships will have completed their last rotations on the shut down loops.CMA OPDR