Ship recycling fell by 13% in the first nine months of 2026 as shipowners continued to use older vessels instead of selling them for scrap.
Strong freight rates have made it more profitable to keep many of these ships operating, even as the number of ageing vessels in the global fleet continues to rise.
According to Clarksons Research, 273 ships with a combined capacity of 5.5 million gross tons (gt), or around 8 million deadweight tons (dwt), were sold for recycling between January and September. This was 13% lower than a year earlier and about 60% below the average recorded during the 2000s and 2010s.
Less than 0.5% of the global merchant fleet’s tonnage has been scrapped each year for the past five years. The rate is even lower than during the shipping boom of 2006-2008. The industry has not seen such a long period of low recycling activity since the
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