Shifting Profile of New Ship Ordering

摘要

Analysis of new orders placed in 2015 to date shows that, apart from a further fall in overall volumes of tonnage contracted, the profile of fresh ordering by respective ship types has altered markedly from that seen in 2013-2014 inclusive. If rates of contracting persist at present levels for the rest of 2015, just 64.5 million gross tons (Mgt) of new-buildings would have been ordered in the year. This would be a decline of 18.3Mgt (-22.1%) from 2014's 82.8Mgt and down by 41.5Mgt (-39.1%) from the 106.0Mgt of 2013. Much of this fall reflects greatly-reduced ordering of new bulk carriers. In 2013 and 2014, shipbuilding markets were dominated by continued interest in bulker contracting. In gross tonnage terms, this ship type accounted for 43.8% of all ordering seen in the former year and for 41.4% in the latter. Yet dismal trading conditions for this ship type have meant that the figure in 2015 to date has been just 17.2%. If such rates of ordering persist to year-end, 11.1 Mgt of bulkers would have been contracted in 2015. (In cargo-carrying terms, this equates to a fall from 64.3 to 19.3mdwt). This would constitute a decline of 23.1 Mgt (-67.6%) from 2014 and be the lowest annual total for this vessel type since 2010.