According to French maritime consultant AXS Alphaliner, 517 containerships totaling 1.24 million TEUs were laid up or otherwise put on hold at sea at the world's ports and anchorages as of June 22nd.

This number is equivalent to 9.7% of the world's containership fleet, and is down 0.6% points from two weeks earlier, putting it below the 10% mark.

This marks the first reduction in terms of number of ships on standby since the company began collecting data, and is due to the increasing number of carriers resuming the operation of ships on hold before the peak season sets in, which, in a typical year, would see increased cargo movement.

Breaking down the numbers, it appears that the number of ships put on hold by carriers is continuing to decrease, while the number of ships put on hold by shipowners is continuing to increase.

Of all the ships idled at sea, those by shipowners total 560,000 TEUs in terms of capacity. This is equivalent to 45% of the total number of ships on standby, and makes up 4.4% of all vessels currently in operation - the largest number recorded since the company began collecting data. In addition to ships being returned due to their charter periods coming to an end, the large number of newbuildings unable to find charterers is also having an effect.

Meanwhile, the number of ships idled by carriers has continued to dwindle since peaking in mid-March, and currently sits at 685,000 TEUs as of June 22nd. Services which had been suspended are being reinstated before the peak season, and more companies are increasing the sizes of their service vessels.

However, cases continue to pop up in which old ships are being scrapped or sold for further trading. As previously reported, Evergreen Group is gradually scrapping its ships over 26 years old involving a total of 31 ships comprised of 20 2,728-TEU units and 11 3,428-TEU units.

According to AXS Alphaliner, newbuilding ships totaling 1,152,000 TEUs are scheduled for completion during the seven-month span from June to December of this year, and depending on cargo movement levels subsequent to the peak season, movement toward scrapping ships could become even more prevalent.