News / Carriers may be getting containership capacity crisis under control at last

The OOCL Hong Kong was christened in South Korea last week

Container shipping lines may be finally getting the vessel overcapacity crisis under control.

It was revealed today that the newbuild orderbook-to-fleet ratio is at the lowest level ever recorded. And liner analyst Alphaliner suggested it could drop further over coming months.

Despite increasing numbers of ultra-large container vessels (ULCVs) joining the world’s box shipping fleet, Alphaliner said the orderbook-to-fleet ratio was 14.1% on 1 May – meaning all new vessels due for delivery until the end of 2019 would add just 14.1% to global fleet capacity.

The ...