Sending ships to the scrap yard is the most obvious option for carriers that are keen to curtail global cellular capacity. But given the finality of this solution, it is something they are understandably reluctant to do, unless as a last resort. However, an analysis of scrapping rates over the last three years does demonstrate that a generation of container ships that still have a considerable number of years of possible service are now being broken up. Several trends are driving the increased scrapping, or "ship recycling" as liner companies prefer to term the activity. The first of these is the continuing overcapacity that threatens the very existence of some of the largest container carriers. The current orderbook is huge in terms of the number of teu slots that are still to be delivered. Alphaliner estimates that 360,000-470,000 teu of capacity is scheduled to be delivered to carriers every quarter between now and the end of 2015.
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