News / Box ships set for a cull, but smaller vessels the most likely to get the chop

A period of aggressive vessel scrapping will be required to address a looming “severe risk of overcapacity” in container shipping.

But the likely demolition candidates are in the smaller sizes, where newbuild orders are sparse, says Alphaliner.

The lack of investment in replacing smaller containerships in recent years, in comparison to the rush to order ULCVs, has resulted in the industry becoming ‘top heavy’.

And the consultant says there is “zero potential” for the scrapping of ships between 12,000 and 24,000 teu, given ...