BWR: China-North Europe trade sees surge in skipped sailings

According to BlueWater Reporting’s Skipped Sailings Report, 191,069 TEUs of capacity are scheduled to be withdrawn on between China and North Europe from Feb. 7 to Feb. 20, 2016, a nearly 170 percent increase from the year before.    Ocean carriers are scheduled to withdraw a total of 191,069 TEUs of capacity through 14 skipped sailings from China to North Europe between Feb. 7 and Feb. 20, according to data gathered from BlueWater Reporting‘s Skipped Sailings Report.
   This number could increase in the coming days, as carriers continue to update their schedules and more data is filtered into the BlueWater Reporting database.
   This year, the Chinese New Year fell on Feb. 8. Each year around the holiday, ocean carriers often to skip multiple sailings, meaning a vessel does not sail on its intended route and no replacement vessel sails in its place. Carriers often skip sailings when there is not enough demand on the trade, and this is especially true during the early months of the year as they follow the end of the traditional peak holiday shipping season.
   In 2015, the Chinese New Year fell on Feb. 19, and the effects were primarily felt between Feb. 15 and Feb. 29, which saw a combined 71,347 TEUs of capacity withdrawn on the China to North Europe trade from a total of six skipped sailings.
   The adjacent chart compares withdrawn capacity this year around the Chinese New Year with the corresponding 2015 period. Overall, capacity withdrawn from the China to North Europe trade during the Chinese New Year in 2016 grew 168 percent from 2015 as larger containerships have continued to be introduced, exacerbating overcapacity issues and causing rates to plummet on the major east-west trades.
   Around the 2015 Chinese New Year, the skipped sailing from the Ocean3 Alliance’s AEX1/AEC1 created more withdrawn capacity on the trade than any other service at 15,267 TEUs. This year around the holiday, the skipped sailing from the 2M Alliance’s AE5/Albatross caused the most withdrawn capacity on the trade at 18,527 TEUs. These calculations are based off the average vessel capacity for all other vessels remaining on the service.