Given how turbulent the pandemic years were in terms of supply and demand, we often compare current events to 2019, which was the last “normal” year pre-pandemic. When we look at Asia-NAWC capacity deployed by the niche carriers (smaller carriers with a limited deep-sea network), there was a surge in 2021-2H, as new niche carriers entered the trade that did not have a presence on the Transpacific trade prior. However, weekly capacity dropped when these “opportunistic” carriers exited the trade once rates started to drop.
A new baseline was then set in 2023 and the first half of 2024, albeit slightly level-shifted upwards from the pre-surge baseline. In the past 12 months however, we are once again seeing a ramp-up in capacity deployed by the niche carriers.
What is striking however, is that despite a higher number of both weekly vessel deployments and weekly capacity during the current deployment surge, the average vessel size was higher during the baseline time-period in 2019. Additionally, the median vessel size in 2019 was 4,300 TEU, while the median vessel size in 2025 is lower at 3,600 TEU. (....)