Nowadays, the global shipping market is not as crazy as before the epidemic. In the face of falling container freight rates, the idle container capacity has exceeded 1 million TEU.

According to Alphaliner data, as of October 24, the number of idle container ships in the world had reached 284, accounting for 4.6% of the global fleet capacity.

However, Alphaliner will not count a ship that has been idle for no more than 14 days as an idle ship, so the increase in the number of empty ships has not been calculated in the excess capacity analysis.

He said that the current situation was mainly caused by the weak demand for freight and the sharp drop in freight rates. The shipping company has to reduce flights to keep the freight rate stable as much as possible.

In the past two weeks, the number of ship companies from Asia Europe and the trans Pacific has increased significantly. For example, some Asia Nordic routes have been cancelled for several weeks in a row.

On the other hand, the speed of China's export decline has led to a rapid drop in freight rates, even if shipping companies take measures to reduce flights.

At the same time, in the container ship leasing market, the increase of the remaining tonnage has brought greater downward pressure on the daily rent and greatly shortened the lease term.

Alphaliner said: "In the past two weeks, the charter rate of 4000-5300 TEU Panamax ships has continued to weaken, and now the charter period is usually six months at a medium and low price of $20000 per day."

Although the previous prosperity seems to have ended with the weakening of the global economy, the container transport costs around the country are still higher than those before the pandemic.

Maersk pointed out that the industry will still face various challenges in the next year or several years, because the world is still facing geopolitical uncertainty and inflationary pressure that has never been seen in decades.

GLA hereby reminds the majority of cargo owners and freight forwarders that they need to keep an eye on the latest developments at various ports and the flights of shipping companies to avoid losses due to delayed delivery of goods.