Container ship order book hits record high of 8.3mn TEUs
As 4.4 million TEUs were contracted during 2024, order book grew despite deliveries hitting a high of 2.9 million TEUs.
The container ship order book hit a record high of 8.3 million TEUs at the end of 2024 compared with the previous high of 7.8 million TEUs in 2023.
As 4.4 million TEUs were contracted during 2024, the second highest ever, the order book grew despite deliveries hitting a new record high of 2.9 million TEUs, according to the latest update from BIMCO.
"Making up 92 percent of the order book capacity, ships 8k TEU or larger dominate the order book," says Niels Rasmussen, Chief Shipping Analyst, BIMCO. "The largest segment, 12-17k TEU, makes up 46 percent of the order book capacity."
Shipyards in China have benefitted the most from the last four years’ contracting boom, and currently hold 72 percent of the order book while South Korean and Japanese shipyards hold 22 percent and five percent, respectively, the update added.
If all ships 20 years old or older are recycled during the next five years, the fleet will grow to 35.8 million TEUs by the end of 2029, assuming no more ships are contracted for delivery before 2030.
"It would require 680k TEU per year to recycle all ships 20 years old or older during the next five years (the current annual record is 657k TEU) but actual recycling is likely to end lower. As long as ships cannot fully return to the Red Sea, recycling will likely continue to be low and at the same time the smaller ship segments tend to be recycled later than average. Therefore, average annual fleet growth during the next five years could end higher than three percent," says Rasmussen.
