Page 27: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (December 1997)

UNCIAD Study: Seaborne Trade To Grow 3.8 Percent

According to a study from UNC-

TAD, the UN trade and develop- ment agency, world seaborne trade is forecast to grow by 3.8 percent in 1997 to 4.9 billion tons on revital- ized demand for dry bulk cargoes.

UNCTAD forecast 5.1 percent growth in dry bulk cargo ship- ments in 1997, based on higher demand for main dry bulk com- modities. The projections reverse the flat 1.1 percent growth of 1996.

UNCTAD forecast that iron ore shipments would expand by 3.5 percent in 1997 and grain ship- ments would grow slightly by one percent, reversing last year's slump.

Seaborne trade, which has grown continuously in the past decade, grew 2.3 percent in 1996.

During the same period, growth in the world merchant fleet was slightly higher, which led to mar- ginally decreasing productivity in fleet capacity.

In the crude oil tanker market, freight rates improved for all prin- cipal types of crude oil tankers.

Crude oil shipments rose four per- cent in 1996 to 1.6 billion tons, dri- ven primarily by suppliers from

Latin America, the Gulf and North

Africa.

Shipments to the U.S., the world's largest importer, rose 3.7 percent in 1996 over the previous year. Shipments to Japan were up two percent, while shipments to

Europe rose 8.6 percent (falling four percent to Northern Europe and rising 15 percent to Southern

Europe).

In 1997, UNCTAD forecast crude oil shipments to the U.S. to more than double the 1996 rate.

Tonnage of the world merchant fleet rose 3.2 percent in 1996 to 758.2 million dwt, the report said.

In 1996, world total surplus ton- nage fell to its lowest since 1988, to 48.8 million dwt.

Developed countries, which con- trol nearly 66 percent of the world

Bollinger Establishes

Electrical Department

Bollinger Shipyards, Inc. has expanded its industrial capabilities with the establishment of an elec- trical department. The 14,400-sq. ft. facility specializes in genera- tor/motor repair and maintenance and is headquartered in Harvey,

La. at Bollinger Quick Repair. fleet, accounted for more than half of the world's seaborne trade in 1996. These countries increased their share of the world fleet slightly to 19.5 percent in 1996 with 147.5 million dwt from 18.5 percent. Also in 1996, their share of container tonnage was 18.1 per- cent and world cargo turnover was 38.9 percent.UNCTAD said invest- ments in new tonnage in 1996 helped the developing world reduce the average age of its con- tainer fleet to 12.1 years, in line with the world average. But according to the agency, the region- al picture remained unbalanced, with Asian countries possessing 80 percent of the container tonnage in the developing world and Africans owning virtually none.

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December, 1997 Circle 293 on Reader Service Card 27