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Containership
orders this year has reached at unprecedented level with shipping lines
contracting to build more than US$22bn - five times the amount committed to
newbuildings in 2002.
Never before has so much been invested in boxship tonnage.
Latest estimates from Clarksons Research puts the amount invested in boxship
newbuildings during the first 11 months of this year at US$22.4bn, against
just US$4.6bn in 2002; US$6.9bn in 2001 and US$12.5bn in 2000. Of the 2003
total to date, US$17bn is to be spent on deepsea tonnage.
With another 200,000 TEUs contracted in November, the total orderbook now
stands at an unprecedented 40% of existing fleet capacity, compared with
just 20 per cent before the ordering bonanza started in the middle of last
year.
These orders, spread out over three years, will push the fleet from the
current 3,200 ships of around 6.6m TEUs to 3,790 vessels of almost 9 million
TEUs by the beginning of 2007, Paris broker Barry Rogliano Salles
anticipates.
Clarksons estimates in its latest Container Intelligence Monthly that supply
will grow by 658,000 TEUs in 2004, with a further 790,000 TEUs added in 2005
followed by 880,000 TEUs scheduled for completion in 2006.
Demand for new tonnage is now starting to have a considerable impact on
prices, with Clarksons' newbuilding price index soaring to 86 in November
from 71 at the end of last year.
A 6,200 TEUs post-panamax ship would now cost around $70m, against the 2002
average of US$60m.
But current price levels are still below the highs seen in 2001. |
