Orders by Non-operating owners (NOO) for vessels in the most popular charter sector, ships of between 700 and 9,000 teu, have tripled in the last year, slowing the contraction in the charter fleet seen since 2020.
According to consultant Alphaliner the NOO fleet has contracted since the beginning of the decade, mainly due to the sale of ships to vessel operators, with 980 sold over a six year period, with only 380 newbuildings in the same period.
Many NOO’s, particularly those from Asia contracted newbuildings initially for their own use but then sold them on
“Many ships initially planned to be used by their owners on their own services (and not counted here), ended up being chartered out in a profitable charter market, becoming de facto NOO tonnage,” explained Alphaliner.
In the year up to the end of March 2026 some 116 vessels totalling 435,000 teu were ordered by NOOs, including 70 ships of 3,000-3,600 teu and 46 of 4,000-5,000 teu.
Chinese and Greek owners, including Costamare, Alpha Bulkers, Conbulk, Minerva, Euroseas and Chartworld were among the most active players, so were MPC Container Ships and Songa of Norway,” according to Alphaliner data.
In the larger sizes 90 ships totalling 630,000 teu were ordered in the 5,300-9,000 teu sector with Eastern Pacific Shipping (EPS), Capital, Danaos, Zodiac and Navios were the most active NOOs in these sizes.
A further 71 units of 1,500-1,900 teu of 130,000 teu were ordered by companies such as Capital, EPS, Cosmoship, Minerva, Marla, Danaos and MPC.
“Replenishment of the NOO fleet is a positive development for the charter market but will only partly fix the market’s short-term problem for carriers, which is its increasing lack of liquidity, especially in some sizes,” said Alphaliner.
Moreover, the majority of the ordered ships are being built under long-term charter contracts and as such will not be traded on the charter market.
Open charter vessels will remain in short supply as a result, however, China’s effect on the charter market with newbuild vessels of 2,000, 3,000-3,600 teu and 4,600-4,800 teu, has added to the availability of vessels.
“Any downturn,” concluded Alphaliner, “Could see many of these ships, often deployed opportunistically to make the most of the healthy charter market, return to intra-China businesses.”