In 2019, some shipyards might be left without any new assignments.
In the past month, the global order book of new ships was expanded with 66 newly contracted projects. The number of newly contracted ships in 2017 has reached a total of 245 vessels, which is, by about five percent, a better result that last year, reports Poslovni.hr on June 22, 2017.
Croatia’s major shipyards are not among the lucky ones who have managed to find new jobs this year. According to the order book run by the Croatian shipbuilding industry association Jadranbrod, the shipyards have a total of 41 commissioned ships, worth 1.74 billion dollars, and enough projects until the first half of 2019. However, due to the dynamics of contracting, especially given the global stagnation and the fact that shipyards are slowly coming out of the restructuring process which is supported by the state, Jadranbrod closely monitors shipbuilding activities and is worried.
Most new ships have been contracted by Chinese shipyards, a total of 101 vessels. However, as far as the value of newly-contracted ships is concerned, the largest share belongs to Italian shipbuilders, who have focused their production on more expensive, specialised ships. Their newly-contracted ships are valued at 4.4 billion dollars, which is a quarter of all new orders.
Globally, there are still no significant signs of recovery of the market. LNG tankers are the only ones which have recorded significantly increased demand, due to the development of liquefied gas transport market. There are a total of 124 LNG tankers in the global order book, and their number has been increased by as much as 224 percent.
Jadranbrod points out that relevant market analyzes show positive signs in the “dry” and “bulk” cargo segment, which leads to a decrease in the gap between the supply and the demand, resulting in a recovery of the prices of new ships. It is expected that the global fleet will grow at an annual rate of 1 percent over the next five years, while demand for goods transport will grow by 3 percent annually.
The global shipbuilding trends have been declining in recent years, which is seen in the number of newly-contracted ships. In 2016, a total of 513 new ships were contracted; the year before 1,635; 2,208 in 2014; and 3,048 in 2013. The greatest decline has been recorded by shipyards producing serial ships, with about half of all Chinese capacities currently being empty. The exceptions to the negative trends are shipyards in Italy, Germany, Finland and partially France, where large cruise ships are being constructed.
