The shipping line industry’s collective attempt to meet the ever-surging demand for capacity as international supply-chain concerns continue to recover from the coronavirus pandemic, has resulted in 619 new container ship orders.
According to the Baltic and International Maritime Council (Bimco), 381 of these are due for delivery this year.
In addition, 3.44 million new TEUs have been ordered – a record total for such a short space of time, Bimco analyst Peter Sand has said.
Predictions based on the current growth curve indicate that by 2023 the number of TEUs in circulation will have gone from 2.5 million at the beginning of 2021, to 5.3 million.
The figures come at a time when lines, whether it’s containerised freight, raw minerals or breakbulk, continue to battle under a capacity crunch that has sent ocean freight rates soaring.
General estimates are that full door-to-door rates have gone from $8000 to $26 000.
As tonnage capability shortfalls persistently apply pressure on ocean carriers, it is hoped that the order book boom for more vessels will in due course stem the demand vs capacity lag, but the industry will have to be patient as it’s going to take some time.
According to Nathan Strang, a senior trade lane manager at freight forwarding brokerage company Flexport, demand is up by 30% and surging well clear of capacity.
Deployed capacity across the liner trade, he said, was already at 100%.
For lines to close the gap on demand, it was imperative that capacity be drastically ramped up to accommodate the growing need for increased supply chain services in tandem with current Covid-19 challenges, Strang said.
