The idle containership fleet has fallen by nearly 50 vessels since the beginning of this year.

A total of 532 boxships are presently laid-up, 30 less than two weeks ago and down from 581 at the start of 2010.

AXS-Alphaliner says the “first significant decline” in the volume of tied up tonnage post crash comes as operators are reactivating their own ships.

It added: “There has been increasing optimism amongst operators with a stronger-than-expected surge in demand in the pre-Lunar New Year period to mid-February.

“Furthermore, extra slow steaming is absorbing excess capacity quicker than anticipated, especially for the larger vessel sizes.”

Operator owned idle numbers have been cut by 15% since mid-December, figures from the boxship research specialist show.

It’s a different story for pure owners who have seen their flotilla of laid-up ships shrink by less than 5% over the same period.

Alphaliner believes a capacity glut will continue to dog the container market for at least the next two years with idle capacity peaking in January 2012.

Source: Asiasis

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