The impact on container capacity has been dramatic. A review of the capacity between July 2007 and April 2008 does not make for pleasant reading. The transpacific lost around 1.6m teu, the transatlantic lost around 400,000 teu while the Asia-Europe trade fortunately picked up 1.8m teu. If the Far East trade weakens further than the first quarter 2008 figures indicate, then there may be a real problem.

Across the three trade routes, over 200,000 teu have been withdrawn from service according to CompairData. Other industry sources suggest that the figure may even be higher. The number of vessels withdrawn still remains low, around 10. The difference in the numbers is due to the fact that capacity calculations are based on service patterns and slow steaming. As the North–South trades are not large enough to absorb the spare capacity, one must assume that it will be showing up in short term lay-up, the charter market or going for extended drydocking.

The impact on charter hire rates is being felt with a soft market that will start to weaken if this trend continues as the larger newbuildings are delivered, putting further pressure on the smaller vessels. Clearly, the pressure is on the lines to manage their capacity in such a way as to maximise utilisation in order to keep freight rates up. Not an easy task in a dwindling demand market.