More Blanked Sailings As 1 Million TEU Now Idle
Carriers have confirmed a host of blanked sailings through to the end of November, as a recent report suggests idle capacity passes one million teu.
As demand for global shipping shows no immediate signs of increasing, carriers have been confirming further blanked voyages, especially on Asian routes, during the past couple of weeks. Meanwhile, the 2M Alliance have suspended a complete loop from Asia, effectively creating a ‘winter schedule’.
In addition to low demand, over-capacity is contributing to the ongoing need for blanked sailings, as new build containerships continue to flood into the market. New build ships with 190,000 teu of capacity was delivered to steamship lines in September, which followed similar figures in August and July, and a record 300,000 teu in June.
According to a report in The Loadstar, there is 1.18 million teu’s of capacity on 315 inactive ships that are now laid idle. This is a significant rise to 942,035 teu aboard 271 ships that was reported two weeks earlier.
If market conditions were not difficult enough for carriers right now, the European Commision have recently confirmed they will not be renewing the Consortia Block Exemption Regulation (CBER) when the current legislation expires in April 2024. CBER is the regulation that enables them to operate in the EU within carrier alliances, and was introduced in 2009 before being renewed in 2014 and 2020.
As ever, Atlantic Pacific continue to monitor market conditions and will bring you news of any major developments.
