Non-operating owners have significantly expanded their vessel orderbook over the past year, tripling orders in the charter-heavy container ship segment and slowing the longer-term contraction of the fleet.
According to Alphaliner, the NOO fleet has been shrinking since the start of the decade, largely because many ships were sold to operators. Over the past six years, 980 vessels were sold while only 380 newbuildings entered the market.
Some of that shift reflected a blurred line between ownership and operation. Alphaliner noted that many Asian owners initially ordered ships for use on their own services, meaning they were not counted as non-operating tonnage at first. But when the charter market strengthened, a number of those vessels were instead chartered out, effectively becoming part of the NOO fleet.
In the 12 months to the end of March 2026, NOOs ordered 116 vessels with a combined capacity of 435,000 teu in the core charter sector of 700 to 9,000 teu. That included 70 ships in the 3,000 to 3,600 teu range and another 46 in the 4,000 to 5,000 teu bracket.
Chinese and Greek owners were among the most active, including Costamare, Alpha Bulkers, Conbulk, Minerva, Euroseas and Chartworld. Norwegian owners such as MPC Container Ships and Songa also featured prominently.
In the larger 5,300 to 9,000 teu category, another 90 vessels totalling 630,000 teu were ordered, with Eastern Pacific Shipping, Capital, Danaos, Zodiac and Navios among the leading NOO buyers.
Activity was also visible in the smaller feeder segment, where 71 vessels in the 1,500 to 1,900 teu range, adding up to 130,000 teu, were ordered by players including Capital, EPS, Cosmoship, Minerva, Marla, Danaos and MPC.
Alphaliner said the replenishment of the NOO fleet is a positive sign for the charter market, but warned that it will only partly address the market’s more immediate challenge: a shortage of liquidity in some vessel sizes.
There is another limiting factor too. Much of the newly ordered tonnage is already tied to long-term charter agreements, meaning it will not necessarily become available in the open charter market.
That suggests open vessels may remain in short supply despite the rise in orders. At the same time, China’s influence on the market, particularly through newbuildings in the 2,000 teu, 3,000 to 3,600 teu and 4,600 to 4,800 teu ranges, has helped improve vessel availability to some degree.
Even so, Alphaliner cautioned that if the market weakens, many of these ships, some of them deployed opportunistically to benefit from strong charter conditions, could shift back into domestic intra-China business.
The rise in orders therefore points to renewed confidence, but not necessarily to a full easing of charter market tightness.
