by Manal Barakat, SeaNewsEditor

In a new report, maritime consultancy firm Clarksons highlighted that the recent Red Sea crisis has significantly influenced containership deployment trends this year.

The report finds that after a period of rapid supply growth, smaller vessels that had been moved from Asia-Europe lanes have now returned to these routes.

As a result, the share of Asia-Europe deployment for ships smaller than 17,000 TEU increased by 11% year-on-year, reaching 42% in November 2024.

Clarksons analysts observed that while the deployment of 12,000-17,000 TEU ships on the transpacific route has been growing, the movement of these vessels to Far East-Europe routes has kept their share steady at 46% this year.

Around 2.3 million TEU of ships entered service service in 2023, representing an 8% capacity growth.

The supply pressure was most visible in the larger sizes, with 850,000 TEU of 12,000-17,000 TEU vessels entering the market, marking an 18% expansion in this size range.

These larger ships, which are the primary workhorses of the transpacific route, accounted for 45% of transpacific capacity by December 2023, up from 39% in January 2023.

However, the Red Sea crisis altered this dynamic. Ships on the Asia-Europe route were rerouted around the Cape of Good Hope to avoid Houthi attacks near the Suez Canal, necessitating more vessels to meet demand due to the longer sailing distance.

The report additionally finds that the deployment of 12,000-17,000 TEU ships has been increasing on other routes, such as Far East–South America.

These ships saw an increased share from 19% in January 2023 to 37% in December 2023, stabilising at 39% last month.