November 29 - According to a recent paper issued by Lloyd's List Intelligence, Recent Trends in Container Shipping, over the last decade the container fleet has grown by almost 70 percent in terms of the number of vessels but more than doubled in terms of

The report explains that the container shipping industry was severely affected by weak demand and oversupply of capacity after the 2008 economic downturn. Demand, however, has gradually improved over the course of the last five years due to the fast expansion of the global container fleet as bigger vessels were ordered and delivered.

Since 2007, large containerships with a capacity of more than 10,000 teu have entered the market and continue to grow in size; today vessels over 10,000 teu account of approximately one seventh of the current fleet capacity, the white paper continues.

The Lloyd's List Intelligence report questions where this additional capacity will go considering that the majority of global ports cannot handle larger ships, and what does this increased volume mean for congestion in ports and on the seas?

Recent Trends in Container Shipping, written by Lloyd's List Intelligence's containers channel analyst, Sarah Bennett, is now available to download by following the link below.

http://info.lloydslistintelligence.com/container-whitepaper-download/