Laid up box fleet slips below 10%

Paris: Are rate rises across the world's container lanes working? Latest statistics from French box watcher AXS Alphaliner give reason for hope. As of June 22 there were 517 containerships totaling 1.24m teu were laid up, equivalent to 9.7% of the world's containership fleet, down 0.6 points from two weeks earlier, putting it below the 10% mark. This marks the first reduction in laid up ships since the organization started tracking this phenomenon last year.
With stocks low in the West, liner firms are anxiously gearing up for the peak season wondering whether consumer appetite has returned. [25/06/09]