Maritime Market Trends for 2014

Greek shipowners have returned to the top of the global shipping economy by controlling a gross tonnage of 164 million tons, overtaking the Japanese on 159.4 million tons. According to Clarksons, this global lead illustrates that Greeks operate much bigger ships because they own 4,984 vessels against 8,537 managed by the Japanese and 6,427 by the Chinese.

Japanese shipowners have invested huge sums of money during the past decade which resulted in significant losses during the crisis. In contrast, the Greeks proved to be more conservative during this period of industry growth, so the crisis had less negative impact on them.

In addition, the Greeks are very active in vessel acquisitions. They have spent more than $6.8 billion during Q1 2014. Newbuilding orders have increased 126 per cent compared to Q1 2013, and they now have a 12 per cent share of the total newbuilding activity up from 9 per cent in Q1 2013. Investments in the secondhand market exceeded $3.3 billion for 131 vessel purchases, whereas during Q1 2013, it was under $1 billion.

Globally, capital invested in the construction of newbuildings exceeded $25 billion for 792 new orders. Shipping companies continue to be most aggressive in the newbuilding market with purchasing of secondhand vessels 37 per cent lower than that of newbuildings. During Q1 2014, the capital invested in secondhand purchases is estimated to be more than $10.5 billion for the acquisition of 499 vessels, 56 per cent of which were bulkers. Bulk Carriers and tankers grabbed the lion’s share of sale and purchase activity with 73 per cent of the total activity. The delivery of Höegh LNG’s PGN FSRU Lampung has brought the number of LNG carriers in the current fleet to the 400 level.

Chinese yards maintain the global lead on dry bulk newbuilding business with a 74 per cent share, but Korea leads the tanker segment with a 45 per cent share. Japanese yards have significantly increased their market share in the bulker segment with most activity focused on the construction of handysize and ultramax vessels. In the tanker segment, they are focused on the construction of handysize vessels.

John Nikolaou is based in Athens. He is a Financial Analyst with Coca Cola HBC and is passionate about the maritime industry.

Source: Maritime Executive