Idled containership capacity is expected to reach a record high of 3m teu within weeks in the “worst capacity crisis the industry has ever seen,” according to new data from Alphaliner. With over 250 sailings already withdrawn in the second quarter, the consultant forecasts that the lay-ups will push the idle fleet to a level twice that was seen during the 2009 global financial crisis.

While larger ships will be cascaded to replace smaller units on the remaining strings, carriers will be forced to idle a large part of their operated tonnage. This will affect all size segments in the coming weeks. In addition to the main Asia-Europe and transpacific trades, carriers have also reduced capacity on the Transatlantic, Latin America, Middle-East, Indian sub-continent, Africa and Oceania routes, as up to a quarter of the world’s population is in lockdown and non-essential retailers shuttered.

THE Alliance recently published details of more blank Asia-North Europe, Asia-Mediterranean and transpacific sailings for May and June, in response to lower market demand, including merging loops on the North Europe and Middle East trade lanes and the suspension of a transpacific string.

Mallory Trans-Pacific Eastbound Blank Sailing Tracker

As carriers continue to make Trans-Pacific capacity reductions, for your reference Mallory Alexander has developed a procedure to track blank sailings and provide its customers with a tool to review and measure voided sailings by the various Alliances. This tracker will be updated on a routine basis.

See the tracker here.

Source: The Loadstar, Mallory Asia-Pacific, Mallory Alexander Global Transport, Alphaliner