Ocean carriers have started correcting significant amounts of capacity recently, according to a new report by Sea Intelligence.

In a statement, the maritime analyst noted that at the onset of the pandemic, carriers were able to cut capacity in line with the massive demand contraction.

However, Sea Intelligence pointed out that the same degree of commitment had not been seen with the volume crash in the last four months of 2022, with the carriers either not able to or possibly not willing to.

"Instead, there has been a wait-and-see approach, where carriers are seemingly waiting for their competitors to blank sailings before finally blanking themselves," said Alan Murphy, CEO, Sea-Intelligence.

"This results in the scheduled capacity that changes drastically the closer we get to actual deployment," he added.

 Source: Sea Intelligence

Sea Intelligence said on Asia-North America West Coast, schedules that were only two weeks out were somewhat reflective of what the actual deployment eventually turned out to be, whereas schedules even three weeks out had roughly 10%-20% of "extra" capacity that did not get deployed.

Six weeks out, however, the maritime analyst noted that an excess scheduled deployment of 20%-40% is seen, except for in Week 9, where it was in excess of 10%-15%.

"This means that in the 3 most recent weeks, carriers have corrected significant amounts of capacity," Murphy commented.

He added that the same trend was also seen at the end of 2022 after Golden Week, where there was an excess of 60%-80% of the capacity that was scheduled but not deployed. 

"On Asia-North America East Coast, however, the capacity correction is less frequent, and when it does happen, it is not to the same extent as seen on the West Coast," the Sea Intelligence chief executive added.