Page 8: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (February 1973)

Sun Oil Company's Annual Tanker Report

The World Tanker Fleet Increased By 14.2 Percent During 1971

With 25 Percent Registered In Liberia. The Report Predicts A

Minimum Annual Increase Requirement For Tankers Of 20,000,000 DWT,

During 1971 the world tanker fleet increased at a faster rate than in each of the previous ten years. At the end of 1971, the tankship fleet consisted of 4,183 vessels totaling 191,748,000 dwt, up 181 vessels and 23,808,000 dwt over the previous year. In 1961, this same fleet con- sisted of 3,250 vessels with a total deadweight tonnage of 68,859,000.

These statistics and others of equal signifi- cance to the energy producing and using na- tions throughout the world were presented in the 15th annual world tanker study prepared •by the Sun Oil Company. These comprehen- sive studies of trends in the usage of tankers and the size of tankers is prepared annually by the Scientific Resources and Development

Planning group of Sun Oil Company and is compiled under the direction of James S. Cross, director of Economics and Industry Affairs.

Taking into account scrapping and other ships withdrawn from active service, there were actually 218 tankers delivered into the world fleet. Table No. 1 reflects the net increase in the number of vessels and the tonnage.

Liberia continued to be the leading flag of registry in 1971, a position which was first at- tained in 1957. With year-end registrations of 850 vessels, the Liberian-flag fleet totaled 47,- 928,200 dwt, Table No. 2. The United Kingdom remained in second place during 1971 with 442 tankers. Norway held third position with 391 tankers. Japan and the United States remained in fourth and fifth positions respectively.

Actually, the United States showed a decrease in the number of ships, 350 in 1970 and 347 in 1971, but an increase total deadweight, up from 8,911,000 dwt in 1970 to 9,218,200 dwt in 1971.

Once again Liberia provided the greatest ad- ditions to deadweight tonnage during 1971 with a net increase of 6,578,400 dwt or 15.9 percent above the previous year, Table No. 3.

Japan added 4,101,000 dwt to its tankship fleet in 1971. The United Kingdom and Norway had net additions of more than 2 million dwt each. In combination, these four flags of reg- istry provided a net addition of 16.0 million dwt or two-thirds of the deadweight tonnage added to the world fleet during 1971.

The 13.8 percent increase in total world carrying capacity during 1971 compares favor- ably with the 14.7 percent gain in the previous year and an 11.2 percent annual average growth for the ten-year period ending in 1971.

The Average Tanker

The average deadweight tonnage of ocean- going tankships of 2,000 gross tons or more was 45,800 dwt at the end of 1971, and the average speed remained at 15.8 knots, Table

No. 5.

Table No. 3—

December 31,

Flag

Liberia

Changes in Deadweight Tonnage 1971 From December 31, 1970

Deadweight Tonnage

Table No. 1—World Tankship

Number of

Fleet at the End of 1971

Deadweight

Norway

Japan

United States

Dec. 31 Vessels Tonnage Greece 1961 3,250 68,859,000 France 1962 3,259 71,996,000 Panama 1963 3,279 76,179,000 Italy 1964 3,359 85,126,000 U.S.S.R. 1965 3,436 93,172,000 Sweden 1966 3,524 102,909,000 West Germany 1967 3,613 112,366,000 All Others 1968 3,775 128,128,000 Total World 1969 3,893 146,029,000 1970 4,002 167,940,000 1971 4,183 191,748,000 + + + + + + + + + + + + 6,578,400 2,834,800 2,525,300 4,101,000 307,200 1,319,200 1,765,400 277,700 548,700 124,300 579,000 542,200 2,860,400 +23,808,200

Percent + 15.9 + 12.7 + 12.3 +21.9 + 3.4 + 17.4 +29.4 — 4.5 + 10.8 + 2.4 + 15.0 + 17.7 + 14.8 + 14.2

The average deadweight tonnage per vessel increased 3,800 dwt or nine percent during 1970. Over the past decade, the average dead- weight tonnage of the world fleet rose 23,700 dwt or 107 percent. The average speed, which has advanced slowly but progressively during the earlier years of the decade, remained at 15.8 knots for the fourth year.

Japanese-flag tankers averaged the world's largest in 1971 at 79,800 dwt. This was 8,600 dwt or 12.1 percent greater than a year earlier, and more than three times the size of the aver- age Japanese-flag tanker at the end of 1961,

Table No. 6. The second largest average ves- sels, at 69,300 dwt, were under the West Ger- man flag, while the third largest were register- ed in Panama at 62,100 dwt.

The average speed of the world tanker fleet remained unchanged in 1971 at 15.8 knots,

Table No. 7. The United States-flag increased average speed 0.1 knot compared with the pre- vious year. Nominal declines in average speed were noted in French, Panamanian, Swedish and

West German flags, while the remaining seven principal flags remained unchanged. Over the ten years ending with 1971, the average speed of the world fleet increased 0.6 knot, ranging from a slight decline for Liberia to a 2.0-knot gain for the U.S.S.R. (Continued on page 12)

Table No. 5—Average Deadweight Tonnage and Speed

Average Average

Deadweight Speed

Year Tonnage (Knots) 1961 21,200 15.2 1962 22,100 15.3 1963 23,200 15.4 1964 25,300 15.6 1965 27,100 15.7 1966 29,200 15. 1967 31,100 15.7 1968 33,900 15.8 1969 37,500 15. 1970 42,000 15.8 1971 45,800 15.

Table. No. A—Carrying Capacity by Major Flags of Registry - 1971 1970 1961 Annual

Table No. 2—Flag of World Tankship Fleet Percent Percent Percent Percent Average 1971 Number of Deadweight Flag of of of of Change Increase

Rank Flag Vessels Tonnage Registry World World World 1971/1970 1971/1961 1 Liberia 850 47,928,200 Liberia 25.0 24.7 17.1 + 15.6 + 15.5 2 United Kingdom 442 25,1 11,800 United Kingdom 13.0 13.4 14.5 + 10.9 + 10.0 3 Norway 391 23,088,900 Norway 12.1 12.3 14.3 + 12.3 + 9.4 4 Japan 286 22,821,800 Japan 11.9 11.1 4.1 +21.9 +23.7 5 United States 347 9,218,200 United States 5.0 5.5 13.7 + 3.9 + 0.4 6 Greece 229 8,912,400 Greece 4.6 4.4 3.6 + 17.6 + 13.7 7 France 125 7,767,000 France 4.1 3.6 4.7 +28.6 + 9.6 8 Panama 175 5,862,900 Panama 3.1 3.7 5.1 — 5.3 + 5.7 9 Italy 149 5,647,500 Italy 3.0 3.1 4.2 +10.4 + 7.5 10 U.S.S.R. 353 5,200,100 U.S.S.R. 2.6 2.9 1.9 + 2.6 + 14.8 11 Sweden 76 4,425,800 Sweden 2.3 2.3 3.6 + 14.7 + 6.4 12 West Germany 52 3,601,900 West Germany 1.9 1.8 1.7 + 17.0 + 12.7

All Others 708 22,161,900 All Others 11.4 11.2 11.5 + 15.1 + 11.1

Total World 4,183 191,748,400 Total World 100.0 100.0 100.0 + 13.8 + 11.2 10 Maritime Reporter/Engineering News