A record amount of mega-ships of 18,000 teu and above was delivered in 2018, but will delivery delays and slow steaming come to the rescue of carriers?

Last year, a total of 26 containerships of at least 18,000 teu were delivered to carriers, the most since these so-called Ultra Large Container Vessels (ULCVs) first hit the water in 2013 (see Figure 1). All of the aggregated capacity of 525,500 teu that arrived in 2018 was deployed in the Asia-North Europe trade.