Ordering frenzy not over yet despite massive capacity influx
Source
American Shipper
Post Date
07/01/2024
In the past seven days, another fifteen container vessels with a combined capacity of 80,500 teu have been delivered. This brings the total newbuild capacity added to the fleet so far this year to 246 ships representing almost 1.6 Mteu.
Despite the fact that deliveries in 2023, 2024 and 2025 are two-to-three times higher than the historical average, and despite very high newbuilding prices, the ordering frenzy is not over yet. This year to date another 64 units container vessel been ordered, which will increase the fleet by a further 543,500 teu.
It is interesting to note that carriers have stopped ordering ?egamax?vessels.
The largest ships ordered this year are four compact neo-panamax 14,170 teu units by the German non-operating owner Peter D?le Schiffahrt, which are expected to be operated by Dubai-based Emirates Shipping Line (ESL).
A second observation to be made is that the new orders are not exclusively ?reen?ships. Just half of the ships ordered this year (30 units) are equipped with dual fuel engines, of which 24 have methanol propulsion and six LNG propulsion.
If we exclude four small hybrid newbuildings with batteries, 30 of the orders to date are conventionally powered, with fourteen of them described as methanol-ready.
More orders from the main carriers are expected in the second half of the year as newbuilding brokers hint at ongoing talks with shipyards for orders for up to a hundred ships, with many of them in the 8,000 to 17,000 teu size range.
