New container ship orders hit a record high of 569 new ship orders, 4.3 million TEU

In 2021, global orders for new container ships hit a record high of 569 vessels and 4.3 million TEUs, according to Clarkson's statistics. That's 29 percent higher than the previous record of 3.3 million TEUs set in 2007. Entering 2022, another 124 new ships were ordered for the container ship market, with a total capacity of about 857,600 TEU.

According to Alphaliner, yards currently have more than 6.22 million TEUs of container ship hand-held orders. If existing potential orders are confirmed, shipyard hand-held orders will easily surpass 2008's all-time high. Hand-held orders will also account for 27 per cent of the existing fleet.

The demand for consumer goods such as furniture and groceries soared, driven by home consumption in Europe and the United States. Freight traffic from Asia to the US rose 20 per cent year-on-year in 2021.

At the same time, the continuous congestion of American ports has further reduced the effective capacity, resulting in serious imbalance between supply and demand in the market.

In this market environment, shipping giants believe that demand will continue in the short term, so they compete to order container ships.