THURSDAY, JANUARY 27, 2011
BIMCO - containership orderbook back to “normal” size
One year ago the containership orderbook stood at 4.9 million TEU. Today, it totals 3.9 million TEU. Deliveries of 1.3 million TEU of newbuilt vessels have diminished the orderbook in combination with few signings of new contracts. The total orderbook is down by 21 percent over the last year.
That development stands in sharp contrast, in particular, to the dry bulk orderbook, which remains very high, but also to the tanker orderbook, which is down by eight percent. In the following piece we will, however, focus primarily on the container trades.
Source: BIMCO, Clarksons
This low level of new orders has brought the orderbook-to-fleet ratio down to 28 percent, which was the average ratio level until the ordering boom took off towards the end of 2003. The orderbook-to-fleet ratio reached its peak in November 2007 at 61 percent. The fact that the ratio is now back ...>> full
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 26, 2011
Shipping industry reacts to hijacking action
BIMCO, the International Chamber of Shipping, INTERCARGO and INTERTANKO have jointly congratulated the governments of the Republic of Korea and of Malaysia, and their naval and joint action forces, on repossessing from Somali pirate gangs the hijacked chemical tankers ‘Samho Jewelry’ and ‘Bunga Laurel’ and freeing their crews from captivity.
"The situation in recent weeks though has changed radically,” outlined a joint statement. "Not only are there now 30 ships and more than 700 seafarers in captivity for as long as seven months on average, but also the pirates are employing new tactics. They make greater use of so-called mother ships, some of them large hijacked vessels, which has vastly expanded their range of operation to encompass much of the Arabian Sea between the Gulf of Aden, Somalia and India. They make use of increased firepower to attack, and there are reports of worsening conditions for captured seafarers.