Page 23: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (June 1992)

WORLD SHIPBUILDING

World Order Book Hits 13-Year High At 43 Million GT

Tankers Account For Just Over 50 Percent Of Tonnage

Despite the Gulf War, a world-wide economic recession and the uncertainty surrounding new envi- ronmental legislation, as of the end of last year, the world shipbuilding order book stood at its highest level since 1977, topping the 43 million gross ton mark. It is the fifth con- secutive year that the order book has risen.

Lloyd's Register reported that there were 1,355 ships totaling 15.9 million gt under construction world- wide, with 1,175 ships of 27.3 mil- lion gt not commenced at the end of 1991. Over 86 percent of the 43.2 million gt world order book is sched- uled for delivery by the end of 1993, with new orders totaling 5.9 million gt during the 4th quarter of 1991.

Tankers accounted for 50.8 per- cent, bulk carriers 19 percent and general cargo 16.5 percent of the total order book.

Last year, 19.9 million gt of new ships were ordered, a fall of over 4.1 million gt from the 1990 figure. This

New Construction Statistics 1982-1991

Annual new orders —— Annual completions

Total order book as at 31st Dec.

Source: Lloyd's decline reflects owners' uncertain- ties caused, first, by the Gulf War; second by the anticipated effects of the U.S. Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA 90); and third, by the ship- yards, placed in a strong negotiat- ing position because of a relatively crowded order book and the result- ing lack of building capacity; and lastly, the effect of overall economic conditions worldwide. Examination of orders by vessel type shows that this 4.1 million gt is accounted for by a fall in demand for tankers—down to 8.9 million from nearly 14 million gt in 1990, confirming the Gulf War and OPA 90 as major factors.

Though ore, bulk and combina- tion carrier tonnage showed signs of improvement against the 1990 fig- ures, the 5 million gt ordered is unlikely to improve the profile of the aging dry bulk fleet. As the impact of

OPA 90 starts to take effect, figures show that the current order book includes 141 oil tankers with double hull and or double bottom designs, totaling just over 18 million dwt. It also should be noted that the order book contains several tankers whose owners have yet to take up an option on the double hull configuration. In addition, some 2 million dwt of com- bination carrier tonnage with double

Table 1. Merchant Ships Completed During 1991

TOTAL Percentage TOTAL PREVIOUS YEAR

Gross Of World Deadweight Gross

WHERE BUILT No. Tonnage Tonnage Tonnage No. Tonnage

ARGENTINA 8 7,542 0.05 6,792 8 5,342

AUSTRALIA 17 21,396 0.13 15,234 20 26,935

AUSTRIA 5 12,445 0.08 13,180 1 2,489

BANGLADESH 2 479 0.00 550 _ —

BELGIUM 8 8,127 0.05 8,642 6 58,381

BRAZIL 6 230,659 1.43 372,794 7 256,350

BRUNEI 2 473 0.00 682 — —

BULGARIA 9 59,629 0.37 82,324 10 80,213

CANADA 9 5,350 0.03 733 11 3,409

CHILE 8 3,546 0.02 3,524 14 6,668

CHINA, PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF* 35 309,823 1.92 473,746 46 366,826

CHINA, REPUBLIC OF (TAIWAN) 11 513,764 3.19 895,403 10 667,220

COLOMBIA — — 0.00 — 1 276

CZECHOSLOVAKIA 4 12,344 0.08 12,592 3 9,258

DENMARK 27 441,586 2.74 619,886 29 394,677

EGYPT 6 19,800 0.12 26,250 1 148

FINLAND 7 156,466 0.97 36,615 16 247,098

FRANCE 27 108,836 0.68 20,122 26 59,639

GERMANY, FEDERAL, REPUBLIC OF 82 774,502 4.81 905,068 97 856,071

GREECE 3 3,063 0.02 3,633 17 22,096

HUNGARY 2 1,212 0.01 422 6 3,636

ICELAND 1 480 0.00 592 1 645

INDIA 8 1,180 0.01 485 11 70,163

INDONESIA 2 776 0.00 390 10 19,312

IRAN - - 0.00 - 1 1,704

ITALY 28 499,896 3.11 633,842 27 371,810

JAPAN 602 7,282,756 45.25 11,298,425 633 6,824,119

KOREA (SOUTH) 112 3,496,693 21.73 5,821,590 110 3,459,786

MALAYSIA 9 18,049 0.11 31,471 5 20,605

MALTA 2 12,790 0.08 15,400 2 6,570

MEXICO 2 3,177 0.02 3,773 1 23,236

NETHERLANDS 84 210,837 1.31 253,742 65 163,293

NEW ZEALAND 2 335 0.00 20 _ _

NORWAY 40 124,247 0.77 100,932 40 79,828

PERU 11 3,479 0.02 532 5 1,883

PHILIPPINES - — 0.00 — 2 1,980

POLAND 47 193,842 1,20 227,547 34 103,580

PORTUGAL 14 21,171 0.13 23,474 16 73,519

ROMANIA* 14 175,522 1,09 273,340 14 159,752

SINGAPORE 52 114,325 0.71 142,419 29 38,614

SOUTH AFRICA 2 4,096 0.03 10,200 2 4,599

SPAIN 59 317,422 1.97 482,678 97 363,100

SWEDEN 6 38,276 0.24 9,486 14 28,994

TURKEY 23 79,939 0.50 87,198 10 31,132

U.S.S.R.* 106 254,797 1.58 294,257 142 367,395

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - — 0.00 _ 2 826

UNITED KINGDOM 31 185,470 1.15 274,742 29 130,650

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 17 9,335 0.06 11,522 16 14,695

YUGOSLAVIA 22 355,173 2.21 576,560 25 456,853

WORLD TOTAL 1,574 16,095,105 100.00 24,072,809 1,672 15,885,375

Source: Lloyd's Register * Data incomplete

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