A growing trend in container vessel capacity
There is a growing interest for one segment of middle-sized container vessels. According to Niels Rasmussen, chief shipping analyst at Bimco, new container ships below a capacity of 8,000 teu have become increasingly popular. He said: “At 1.9 million teu, the current order book is five times higher than that registered 19 months ago, when it marked its minimum."
This minimum amounted to 8.4% of the existing fleet of this type of vessel. Over the last twelve months, 39.6% of new container ship contracts were of this type, almost double that in the period of 36 months prior to October 2020.
"Despite representing only 7.2% of the world's merchant fleet, container ships between 6,000 and 8,000 teu account for 10.8% of the current order book," Rasmussen pointed out. As to the smaller container ships (below 6,000 teu), their order book has also seen a significant increase. (sh)