Idle containerships made up 3.2 per cent the world box fleet of 17 million TEU in the week of February 3 with a total capacity of 547,834 TEU, having already totalled 2.9 per cent the previous week.
The world's idle fleet is now at its highest level since mid-April last year when it hit 537,224 TEU, or 3.3 per cent of the fleet, according to the latest figures from Lloyd's List Intelligence.
It now exceeds the figure for the like period in 2013 when the inactive fleet represented 3.1 per cent of the total fleet.
The increase in the size of the idle fleet comes as shipping lines have been blanking sailings and adjusting capacity in line with factory closures for the Chinese New Year, which started 10 days earlier than last year.
In terms of the various vessel segments, the panamax fleet (3,000-4,999 TEU) once again had the most unemployed capacity, with a total of 173,980 TEU. Just behind the panamax segment was the post-panamax fleet, which had 150,457 TEU idle.
The world's idle fleet is now at its highest level since mid-April last year when it hit 537,224 TEU, or 3.3 per cent of the fleet, according to the latest figures from Lloyd's List Intelligence.
It now exceeds the figure for the like period in 2013 when the inactive fleet represented 3.1 per cent of the total fleet.
The increase in the size of the idle fleet comes as shipping lines have been blanking sailings and adjusting capacity in line with factory closures for the Chinese New Year, which started 10 days earlier than last year.
In terms of the various vessel segments, the panamax fleet (3,000-4,999 TEU) once again had the most unemployed capacity, with a total of 173,980 TEU. Just behind the panamax segment was the post-panamax fleet, which had 150,457 TEU idle.