According to Alphaliner, some ocean carriers are turning to buying ships to increase capacity, rather than chartering them, reducing capacity in the containership leasing market by 1.6 million TEU.
In addition, there are concerns in shipbroker circles that this reduction in open capacity will weaken the industry's ability to cope with the normal seasonal peak and low seasons of liner trade.
According to shipbrokers, the loss of capacity controlled by NOOs (non-operating shipowners) began in August 2020, when shipping lines, flush with cash due to soaring freight rates, began to add capacity to their own fleets.
In just 18 months, more than 500 container ships have been sold to liner operators through the secondary market, a massive fleet exodus rooted in high demand for freight post-COVID-19, Alphaliner said.
"The huge demand for container ships has caused container ship rents to soar to levels never seen before in the history of container shipping, almost overnight."
"MSC has been the main buyer so far, buying 169 second-hand container ships with a total capacity of 636,900TEU," Alphaliner said.
CMA CGM was the second most active shipping company in the container ship market, purchasing 62 vessels with a total capacity of 207,000TEU; Maersk ranked third with 27 vessels purchased with a total capacity of 141,600TEU; followed by Wanhai with 23 vessels ship with a total capacity of 139,700TEU.
However, some shipping companies have decided to take advantage of the freight rate gained on newbuildings to increase dividends to shareholders, or to seize opportunities in the charter market for longer-term fixed charters.
According to Alphaliner data, in the past 20 months, non-operating shipowners have ordered 175 ships with a total capacity of 710,321TEU, more than half of which have signed long-term charter contracts with shipping companies.
“The low number of newbuildings relative to the loss of capacity suggests that non-operating owners’ fleets need to order more 1,000-9,000 TEU-sized container ships,” the shipbroker said.
But he added that several factors were preventing owners from ordering new ships, including soaring costs, longer lead times, and uncertainty over environmental regulations and fuel options.
Meanwhile, sources at shipbrokers said they were concerned about the current lack of open container ship capacity in the market, as well as the lack of spare container ships in the future.
"At the moment, the outlook is not very good," said one broker. "However, we think that when the situation returns to some form of normalcy, shipping companies may consider moving some of the excess smaller ships they have purchased. Rent out, that will give us something to sell," he said.
