New analysis conducted by Danish maritime intelligence company eeSea has revealed the quick drop in shipped container volumes brought about by the spread of coronavirus. Container shipping capacity is down 11% for this month and 11% of next month’s sailings have been blanked.

However, the number of sailings alone only tells part of the story. Commenting on the numbers, Simon Sundboell, CEO and founder of eeSea, said: “You need to look at the reduction of container shipping capacity and the pattern that is forming for the weeks and months ahead.”

On, for example, the Asia – North America eastbound head haul including Suez services, the actual deployed versus proforma capacity ratio, after blanks and suspensions, for May is 80% – almost as big a reduction as the February ratio of 71%. Year-on-year, including discontinued services, the reduction in May is 21%.

The other benchmark head haul trade, Asia to Europe westbound, shows similar capacity reductions. Of note is that in June the Ocean Alliance will overtake 2M as the largest alliance on the tradelane for the first time since October last year.

Founded in 2015 and headquartered in Copenhagen, eeSea tracks 2,400 ports terminals, 1,300 liner services and 6,000 vessel proforma schedules.