In June, the fleet used along the trade lane between the Far East and both sides of North America was 12.6% less year-on-year.
According to Alphaliner’s latest report a total of 514 containerships were employed on this route, with a combined capacity of 4.86 million TEUs. In the same month a year ago there were 674 vessels deployed on services between Asia and North America, with a capacity of 5.56 million TEUs.
The data confirms the slackening demand along these routes. This is why shipping lines find it more lucrative to position a larger share of their fleets on more profitable trade lanes, like Asia-Europe.
In the month under review, exporters had an average weekly availability of 516,160 TEUs, -23.3% compared to June 2022.
The slots available have decreased at a higher rate than the number of ships used on this service. This is because a notable drop in vessel traffic between the Far East and the US West Coast was counterbalanced by an increase in vessel traffic on the trade lane to the US East Coast.
Not all shipowners have contributed to reducing the fleet in the same way: among the shipping companies, MSC is the one that took the largest amount of vessel capacity off the market.
Translation by Giles Foster
