Shipyards Set Container Ship Delivery Record in 2024

Within just the first ten months of 2024, shipyard deliveries of containerships have reached a record annual high. According to BIMCO, the shipping organization, a total of 410 ships with a capacity of 2.5 million TEU have been delivered, surpassing the prior full-year record of 2.3 million TEU set in 2023.

An additional 0.5 million TEU is expected to be delivered before the year ends, which would bring the total for 2024 close to an unprecedented 3 million TEU.

Due to limited scrapping activity this year, the global container fleet has hit a new peak of 30.4 million TEU, marking nearly a one-third increase since the start of the 2020s.

“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 3.3 million TEU have been added to the orderbook,” said Niels Rasmussen, BIMCO's chief shipping analyst, yesterday. 

Alphaliner data indicates that nearly half of the new ships ordered by the top 10 liners are intended as replacement vessels.

According to Greece’s Xclusiv Shipbrokers, the current orderbook-to-fleet ratio in TEU stands at 24.9%, with 39% of the ships ordered in 2024 expected for delivery in 2028 or later.