The total for the first four months of 2014 is 27% more compared to the same period in the previous year, and scrapping may well hit record highs of 500,000teu by the end of the year, according to many estimates.
Scrappings is still being outpaced by deliveries, however, with 538,000 teu of new capacity coming onto the market in the first four months of 2014, two-and-a-half times more than is being scrapped.Â
The vessels scrapped so far this year had an average age of 21, younger than ever before. The average age of scrapped tonnage has been falling consecutively since 2011, from an average of 28 years, down to 23 in 2012, and 22 in 2013.
Previously, 2013 was itself a record year for scrapping, with more than 450,000teu scrapped, the vast majority of which took place in poorly-regulated scrapping yards on the Indian subcontinent.
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