Order book drops

The ratio of container TEU capacity on-order compared to the trading fleet dropped below 20% in June, reported Braemar Seascope. The broker advised that, as the container industry is expected to take delivery of record volumes of TEU capacity this year, the order book to trading ratio has eroded to approximately 20% in June 2013. Jonathan Roach, container market analyst at Braemar Seascope, said “With more than 1.7m TEU expected to be delivered in 2013, the ratio is set to fall to approximately 16% by the end of the year. In the five years since the global financial crisis, vessel ordering has declined; from 2009 to 2013, we estimate that just 4.0m TEU will be added to the order book.”