Stock appreciation rights (''SARs'') (Details) - Stock Appreciation Rights (SARs) [Member] - $ / shares	Jan. 15, 2016	Mar. 06, 2015	Jun. 01, 2014	Mar. 12, 2014	Aug. 01, 2013
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
SARs Awarded (in shares)	205,519	37,797	5,595	22,118	1,078,125
Exercise Price (in dollars per share)	$ 9.20	$ 10.25	$ 13.91	$ 13.66	$ 14.00
Vesting Period (in years)	3 years	3 years	3 years	3 years	5 years
Grant Price (in dollars per share)	$ 9.20	$ 10.25	$ 13.91	$ 13.66	$ 14.00
Dividend Yield (in hundredths)	6.63%	3.90%	2.88%	2.93%	2.87%
Risk-free rate of Return (in hundredths)	1.79%	1.90%	2.20%	2.06%	2.15%
Expected Volatility (in hundredths)	58.09%	61.38%	53.60%	56.31%	54.89%
Weighted Average Fair Value @grant date (in dollars per share)	$ 2.20	$ 2.98	$ 4.20	$ 4.17	$ 4.28
Minimum [Member]
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Average Expected Exercise Life (in years)	4 years	4 years 2 months 12 days	4 years 6 months	4 years 7 months 6 days	4 years 10 months 24 days
Maximum [Member]
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Average Expected Exercise Life (in years)	5 years	5 years	5 years	5 years	6 years

This line item represents the average expected exercise life of units grant during the period.

No definition available.

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- Definition

Granted price per share of equity-based compensation awards granted. Excludes stock and unit options.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	asc_
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Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Period which an employee's right to exercise an award is no longer contingent on satisfaction of either a service condition, market condition or a performance condition, in 'PnYnMnDTnHnMnS' format, for example, 'P1Y5M13D' represents the reported fact of one year, five months, and thirteen days.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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- Definition

The number of grants made during the period on other than stock (or unit) option plans (for example, phantom stock or unit plan, stock or unit appreciation rights plan, performance target plan).

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 718
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (c)(2)(iii)(1)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6415400&loc=d3e5070-113901

+ Details

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Data Type:	xbrli:sharesItemType
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- Definition

The weighted average fair value at grant date for nonvested equity-based awards issued during the period on other than stock (or unit) option plans (for example, phantom stock or unit plan, stock or unit appreciation rights plan, performance target plan).

+ References

+ Details

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- Definition

The estimated dividend rate (a percentage of the share price) to be paid (expected dividends) to holders of the underlying shares over the option's term.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 718
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (f)(2)(iii)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6415400&loc=d3e5070-113901

+ Details

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- Definition

The estimated measure of the percentage by which a share price is expected to fluctuate during a period. Volatility also may be defined as a probability-weighted measure of the dispersion of returns about the mean. The volatility of a share price is the standard deviation of the continuously compounded rates of return on the share over a specified period. That is the same as the standard deviation of the differences in the natural logarithms of the stock prices plus dividends, if any, over the period.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 718
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (f)(2)(ii)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6415400&loc=d3e5070-113901

+ Details

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Period Type:	duration

- Definition

The risk-free interest rate assumption that is used in valuing an option on its own shares.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 718
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (f)(2)(iv)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6415400&loc=d3e5070-113901

+ Details

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Data Type:	num:percentItemType
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- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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- Definition

Price of a single share of a number of saleable stocks of a company.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Details

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- Details

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