In November this year, the global container ship fleet exceeded 7,000 vessels for the first time.
Clarkson's recent report indicated that as of early November, the operational container ship fleet reached 7,007 vessels, with a total capacity of approximately 32.7 million TEUs. Three years ago, the container ship fleet achieved the milestone of 6,000 vessels in September 2022, with the fleet size at 6,030 ships as of early October 2022.
Since then, a total of 1,144 newly built container ships have been delivered into service, with 222 new ships delivered this year alone. In contrast, only 159 older ships have been scrapped and dismantled, with just 11 of these being retired within the current year. This latest addition of over 1,000 vessels entering the market in just 37 months marks the fastest growth rate in history, surpassing the 42-month period from 2006 to 2010 when the fleet expanded from 4,000 to 5,000 ships.
The rapid expansion of the container ship fleet during this phase was primarily driven by the "ordering boom" of 2021-2022, during which global shipowners placed orders for 1,094 container ships. The self-owned fleets of container shipping companies saw the most significant growth, adding approximately 861 vessels. To enhance fleet capacity and provide more environmentally friendly services, shipping companies placed a large number of new ship orders, with a majority of these supporting alternative fuels. According to Clarkson's data, since 2020, 32% of new container ship orders by vessel count have been for alternative fuel vessels, with this proportion reaching 57% by TEU.
Clarkson's report shows that the expansion of the container ship fleet has been accelerating continuously. Since the inception of container shipping in the 1950s, it was not until 1985 that the fleet size surpassed the 1,000-vessel milestone. The 2,000-vessel milestone was reached in 1996, 3,000 in 2002, 4,000 in 2006, 5,000 in 2010, and 6,000 in 2022.
Looking ahead, Clarkson anticipates that the container ship fleet will rapidly surpass the 8,000-vessel milestone in the coming years. Currently, there are a total of 1,109 container ships on the global orderbook, with 991 of these scheduled for delivery by the end of 2028. It is projected that the annual TEU capacity growth rate of the container ship fleet will be around 5% to 6% between 2026 and 2027.
In recent years, investments in new container ship construction have accelerated their return. Since the beginning of 2024, 936 new orders have been placed, which will continue to drive up fleet size. At present, the rate of ship scrapping is far from sufficient to offset new vessel deliveries, and charter rates remain at historically high levels, excluding the period during the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, this unidirectional growth trend in the container ship fleet is unlikely to be sustainable. Currently, 1,427 container ships are over 20 years old, accounting for approximately 20% of the fleet, while 3,250 ships are over 15 years old, making up 46% of the total. As fleet renewal accelerates, a significant number of small, aging vessels will eventually be scrapped. In the future, the number of container ships may plateau or even decline, even though total TEU capacity could continue to grow due to the delivery of more large vessels, thereby meeting trade demands.
