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Owners plowed more than $188 billion into newbuilds in the first 11 months of the year, on course for the strongest pace in terms of both value and capacity since 2007, according to Clarkson Research Services Ltd, a unit of the world’s largest shipbroker. Two of the world’s three largest shipbuilders say customers would need to wait until 2028 to receive new ships ordered today.
The surge comes against the need to serve an ever-growing base of global trade, which has continued to expand despite an elevated interest rate environment and a slowing Chinese economy. Though the proportion of ships being added to the fleet is small by historical standards, the outright volume of orders this year is one of the highest on record, highlighting the pressures on yard space.
“You’ve had very little development in shipyard capacity, other than it has reduced in size,” said Jan Rindbo, chief executive officer of D/S Norden A/S which operates both bulk carriers and oil tankers. “You don’t have the ability to quickly increase production.”
The spending on new ships is a boost to the industrial bases of South Korea, Japan and China, the three countries that dominate new construction. The trouble is that some vessels, particularly ships that move coal, ore and crops, aren’t lucrative
