The decline in the idle fleet in the last month has added vessel capacity equivalent of 293,000 20-foot equivalent units to global trade lanes, which could slow or erode the increases in freight rates to and from China. Rates on lanes connecting to China have increased by an average of 38 percent on the China Containerized Freight Index since January, Alphaliner said.
The capacity of the idle container fleet, which stood at 913,000 TEUs in mid-March, fell 32 percent to 620,000 TEUs at the end of April. New services scheduled for launch in the next three months are expected to bring the idle fleet below 350,000 TEUs by July.
