Twice as many containerships have already been scrapped this year compared to the whole of 2022 with liners and tonnage providers anxious to prune their fleets amid plummeting rates and an uncertain outlook for the global economy.
The latest count shows 15 boxships have been sent for recycling so far this year, compared to just seven in 2022.
Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC), the world’s largest containerline, has sent its first ship for scrap since 2017, the 1986-built MSC Floriana, while Wan Hai has earmarked 10 ships for recycling, with six of them now sent for scrap.
January was the busiest month for container demolition sales since July 2020, according to VesselsValue, with more scrap candidates emerging in February.
“The pace of scrapping needs to pick up further before it makes a material difference on the overall fleet numbers,” analysts at Linerlytica noted this week.
Since 2012, the annual average capacity removed by demolition has been 265,000 teu according to brokers Braemar. With those numbers Braemar estimates in a new report out this week a backlog of 530,000 teu of “catch-up” covering the past two years of near zero demolition.
“We are expecting a spike in demolition in 2023/24,” Braemar analysts noted.
Container vessels aged 20 years or more now represent 23% of the fleet, providing plenty of demolition candidates.
