Alphaliner: Containership order book at $57 billion

   Container shipping companies have ordered ships with about 2.4 million TEUs of capacity for $27 billion since September 2008, compared to 2.1 million TEUs of capacity for $30 billion before the financial crisis, said shipping research firm Alphaliner in its latest newsletter.
   Many vessels ordered before the financial crisis hit are still being delivered.
   “The carriers’ first action after emerging from the worst recession in container shipping history ever, was to order even more capacity,”
Alphaliner noted. “New orders were placed in an already over-supplied market.”
   Alphaliner said ships ordered in 2010 and 2011 are 25 to 30 percent cheaper than those before the crisis and added the carriers behind those orders “will benefit from a significant cost advantage.”