Containerships bound for scrap are destined to reach a record high this year yet still new capacity will coming from the yards will continue to outweigh that deleted by a long shot, says Alphaliner.
In the first four months of the year 212,000 TEU was demolished, an increase of 27 per cent compared to the same period last year.
The peak summer shipping season is, however, expected to offer a short respite, slowing down the pace of scrapping over the next three months.
Yet total deletions are still calculated to hit 500,000 TEU this year, up from 463,000 TEU in 2013 driven by the unprecedented number of deletions of ships larger than 4,000 TEU.
Thirty four ships ranging in size from 4,000 to 5,300 TEU have been scrapped since the start of the year, compared to 18 units for the whole of 2013 and 13 ships in all previous years.
At least a dozen more ships of this size are likely to be broken up before the end of 2014.
The average age of the vessels scrapped this year is also expected to reach an all time low. The average age for containership scrapping stood at 28 years between 2000 and 2011.
In 2012, the average age of scrapping dropped to 23 years and slipped further to 22 years in 2013. Of the total 70 vessels scrapped so far this year, their average age has slid further to 21 years, with the larger box ship of over 4,000 TEU being scrapped at an even younger age of 20 years.
Hanjin Shipping, Cosco and Maersk are leading the way in the demolition of under-aged ships of more than 4,000 TEU, having scrapped 23 of the 34 units between them, including nine for Hanjin.
Despite the record level of ships scrapped, new containership deliveries have continued to outpace the deletions. Vessel deliveries reached 538,000 TEU in the first four months of 2014, surpassing the scrapping of old ships by a ratio of 2.5 to one.
One million TEU of new capacity is due to be delivered between now and year-end and will expand the global containership fleet by 5.6 per cent in 2014.
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