News / Strong secondhand box ship market now threatened by overcapacity

Photo: VesselFinder

Unexpectedly strong demand for container shipping and healthy freight rates for much of last year led to a doubling in the values of secondhand vessels, according to new research from Alphaliner.

Sales and purchase activity in the container sector in 2024 saw 333 vessels bought and sold, totalling 1.1m teu capacity, compared with the 285 ships, equating to 937,000 teu, sold in 2023, making last year the third-strongest for secondhand deals, after 2021 and 2019, when the market was distorted by ...