According to findings by French maritime consultant AXS Alphaliner, 533 containerships totaling 1,315,000 TEUs in capacity were on hold at sea at the world's ports and anchorages as of June 8.

While the number of idled ships operated by carriers seems to be dwindling, the number of ships being put on hold by shipowners is increasing due to ships being returned because of the bottoms glut.

The number of containerships on standby is equivalent to 10.3% of the world's existing containership fleet - up 0.1 point from two weeks earlier. While the rate of increase is slowing on a capacity basis, the number of ships being idled continues to grow.

The number of ships on hold by shipowners was 340 units totaling 546,000 TEUs - the highest on record since the company began collecting data. The growing number of ships being returned from carriers is apparently having a particularly devastating effect on German shipowners.

Cases are also springing up in which containerships have been delivered by shipyards, but remain on hold at sea awaiting charters. Meanwhile, the number of ships put on standby by carriers has begun to taper off after peaking in mid- March, and totaled 193 units (769,000 TEUs) as of June 8.

Since AXS Alphaliner began to collect data concerning ships on hold at sea, the number of ships has continued to increase. On a capacity basis, however, the volume of ships begin to decrease after peaking on March 30 at 1.42 million TEUs, and currently hovers around 1.3 million TEUs.

The fact that the number of these ships continues to grow while the rate of increase of total capacity is slowing indicates that the number of vessels from shipowners whose fleets are mostly comprised of small-/medium-size ships is growing.

According to AXS Alphaliner, newbuildings with a total volume of 1,152,000 TEUs will be delivered this year during the seven-month span between June and December. There is some concern that this could worsen the supply-demand balance for freight space, depending on whether cargo movement sees recovery or not.