BIMCO: Containership deliveries hit new annual record

Ten months into 2024, shipyards’ deliveries of containerships have reached a new annual record, according to the shipping association BIMCO.

Niels Rasmussen, Chief Shipping Analyst at BIMCO, shared that a total of 410 ships with a capacity of 2.5 million TEU have been delivered, surpassing the previous full-year high of 2.3 million TEU in 2023.

As informed, the deliveries have increased the size of the container fleet by 2.4 million TEU (8.7%) since the beginning of 2024. The container fleet now consists of 6,699 ships with a capacity of 30.4 million TEU.

Rasmussen said: “Despite the rapid expansion of the fleet, owners continue to add orders for new ships. So far this year, contracting is already more than double that of last year’s total and 286 ships with a capacity of 3.3m TEU have been added to the order book. The order book dipped to 5.9m TEU in early June but is now back at 7.6m TEU, 25% of the size of the total fleet.”

It was also reported that even though the order book is currently marginally smaller than the 7.8 million TEU record from early 2023, the operating owners’ order book is at a record high of 5.9 million TEU.

Operating owners are said to control 78% of the order book, but only 60% of the fleet, and therefore are expected to see their fleet continue to grow faster than non-operating owners.

As per BIMCO, ships with a capacity between 12,000 and 17,000 TEU have driven 42% of the capacity growth since early 2020 and will also be the main driver of growth in the coming years as they contribute 47% of the capacity in the order book. Ships larger than 17,000 TEU have contributed 25% of fleet growth in the 2020s and make up 27% of the order book’s capacity.

Another 0.5 million TEU are scheduled to be delivered during the rest of 2024, driving deliveries for the year close to 3.0 million TEU, BIMCO claimed, adding that during the next four years, an average of 1.7 million TEU are scheduled to be delivered each year and 0.3 million TEU are already planned for delivery in 2029. Additional ships for delivery in the next five years can still be ordered.

“As mentioned, the order book to fleet ratio is currently 25% but actual fleet growth will depend on future recycling. After a few years of very low recycling, 3.4m TEU will be more than 20 years old next year and prime candidates for recycling in the coming years. If they are all recycled during the next five years, fleet growth from the current order book can be limited to 14%,” Rasmussen noted.

It is worth mentioning that the pace of the scrubber uptake has accelerated with the surge in vessel deliveries. The amount of cellular container capacity fitted with scrubber technology has reached the landmark figure of 40%.

The increase comes despite the promise of a new generation of vessels that will run on alternative green fuels, as part of the push to decarbonize liner shipping.

To note, among the recent containership activities are Hapag-Lloyd’s christening ceremonies of Hamburg Express Class vessels, claimed to be “the largest containerships” ever to sail under the German flag.

These ships will be outfitted with a high-pressure dual-fuel engine that will operate on LNG, but will also have sufficient tank capacity to operate on conventional fuel as an alternative.

Thanks to the new dual-fuel technology, the vessels will also be able to operate using non-fossil fuels, such as bio-methane and e-methane, and thereby generate hardly any CO2 emissions, Hapag-Lloyd said.