Alphaliner Expects Record Box Ship Deliveries for January

A total of 1.5 million TEU in new box ship capacity is forecast for delivery in 2018, says Alphaliner. File Image / Pixabay

Alphaliner, in its latest weekly report, says it expects January to see record container ship deliveries, which will "set the stage" for the rest of the year, with a total of 1.5 million TEU in new box ship capacity forecast for delivery in 2018.

Of that amount, Alphaliner notes that a record number of ULCS of 14,000 to 21,000 TEU is planned for 2018 delivery.

Just for January, at least seven megamax newbuildings of 19,000 to 21,000 TEU are slated to join the fleet.

"Several carriers have already taken action to reduce the - adverse - market impact from all the additional tonnage, by deferring deliveries of some new ULCS from this calendar year to the next," explained Alphaliner, noting that these efforts are still not enough to put deliveries below the forecast 1.5 million TEU for the year.

COSCO is reported to have deferred 10 of the 28 ULCS it was slated to receive in 2018, and Yang Ming is said to have delayed the deliveries of three 14,000 TEU ships to 2019.

"Most of this capacity is scheduled for delivery in the first half of the year, with over 1.2 million TEU due before the end of June. These capacity additions, together with a slower rate of container ship scrapping, will put further capacity pressure on the market," said Alphaliner.

"Only 350,000 TEU of older tonnage is currently forecast to be deleted this year, down from 665,000 TEU in 2016 and 422,000 TEU in 2017."

The consultancy notes that a slower pace of ship breaking has observed since June 2017, with only 20,000 TEU being scrapped on average each month.

Alphaliner says the orderbook further impacted as additions are expected to come from vessel jumboisations planned by a number of carriers, including MSC, CMA CGM, and Evergreen, adding a possible 33,000 TEU in incremental capacity to this year's existing fleet.