Container lines need to scrap 4.5m teu to balance market
27 Aug, 2025
An increasingly top-heavy market will need demolitions to hit 4.5 million teu by 2030 as newbuildings flood the market over the remainder of this decade, but yard capacity is expected to stymie scrapping.
Consultancy Linerlytica said in this week’s weekly report that container ship demolitions will need to achieve the same level of scrapping in the next four years as the industry has manged over the previous 25 years, if it is to rebalance the market.
“The rapidly swelling orderbook will need to be balanced by a sharp increase in scrapping, with at least 4.5 million teu to be removed by 2030, equivalent to the cumulative capacity demolished in the last 25 years,” said the consultant.