The Hindu Business Line : World fleet expands, productivity drops

The world merchant fleet expanded to 960 million DWT at the beginning of 2006, up 7.2 per cent, and the highest since 1989, when merchant fleet's recovery started from the slump.

The world fleet productivity, measured in terms of tonnes carried per deadweight tonne (DWT) and thousands of tonne-miles per DWT at 7.4 and 30.3 respectively in 2005 represented marginal decrease from 7.6 and 30.8 in 2004, according to Unctad Review of Maritime Transport 2006.

The marginal drop in productivity measured in tonne of cargo carried per DWT reflected the faster rate of fleet expansion relative to the cargo carried. The drop in productivity, as measured in tonne-miles per DWT, also resulted from fleet expansion which outweighed growth in sea-borne trade and distance travelled.

Drop in volumes

The productivity in terms of tonnes carried per DWT for oil tankers stood at 6.7, the same as previous year, while that for dry bulk and combined carriers decreased marginally from 5.1 to 5.0 and from 8.8 to 8.4 respectively. The cargo volumes carried per DWT of the residual fleet also declined from 12.3 to 11.5 tonne per DWT. The thousands of tonne-miles per DWT of oil tankers stood at 32.4 in 2005, the same as 2004, while the corresponding figures for dry bulk and combined carriers decreased from 25.7 to 25.2 and from 43.1 to 41.1 respectively. The productivity of the residual fleet measured in tonne-miles per DWT also decreased from 34.9 to 33.6.

The world merchant fleet expanded to 960 million DWT at the beginning of 2006, a remarkable 7.2 per cent increase, and the highest since 1989, when merchant fleet's recovery started from the slump. New building deliveries increased to 70.5 million DWT, and tonnage demolished and lost was a modest 6.3 million DWT, leaving a net gain of 64.2 million DWT.

The fleet of oil tankers and dry bulk carriers, which together make up 72.9 per cent of the total world fleet, increased by 5.4 per cent and 7.9 per cent respectively. There was 13.3 per cent increase from 98.1 to 111.1 million DWT in the container ship fleet and a 7.5 per cent rise to 24.2 million DWT from 22.5 million DWT in the liquefied gas carrier fleet.

The world total surplus tonnage increased marginally in 2005 to 7.2 million DWT (6.2 million DWT in 2004) at 960 million DWT (895.8 million DWT in 2004), or 0.7 per cent (0.7 per cent in 2004) of the world merchant fleet, the same as that in the previous year. The surplus capacity in the tanker sector remained modest 4.5 million DWT, while overcapacity in the dry bulk sector fell to two million DWT.

The tonnage supply in the oil tanker increased in 2005 by 14.6 million DWT to 312.9 million DWT as the new buildings outweighed tonnage scrapped, laid up or lost.

In 2005, the total dry bulk fleet supply increased by 14.9 million DWT to 340 million DWT. Over-tonnage for this type of vessel reached two million DWT, equivalent to 0.6 per cent of the dry bulk fleet.

For the conventional general cargo fleet, overcapacity stood at the same level as in the previous year, with supply exceeding demand by only 0.7 million DWT or 1.6 per cent of the world fleet of this sector. The surplus tonnage of general cargo vessels has been under one million DWT for the last few years.

The Unctad Review notes that the average age of the world fleet dropped marginally to 12.2 years, with almost 27.1 per cent of the fleet being 20 or more years old. By the type of ship, the average age of tankers slightly decreased to 10 years in 2005.

The share of 15-year old or more tanker tonnage declined to 26.7 per cent from 27.4 per cent in 2004, even after the decline in ship-breaking activities which in 2005 was only 5.7 million DWT as compared to 7.8 million DWT in 2004.

The average age of the dry bulk carrier fleet was 13.1 years in 2005, slightly lower than that in the previous year, while the container ships continued to be the youngest fleet in 2005, with an average of 9.4 years, the same as the previous year.

This trend is reflected in the share of tonnage between 0 and four years of age — 32.2 per cent highest among all categories. The general cargo vessels had the highest average age of 17.5 years.

Drop in average age

By country grouping, the fleet age of developed market-economy countries in 2005 was the lowest at 103 years (10.5 years in 2004). Also, in this group the average age of tankers decreased slightly to 8.2 years in 2004, reflecting the European Union's continued preference for new tonnage largely due to the environment concerns and IMO directive to promote safe and environment-friendly shipping. The major open registry countries had the second lowest average age of all ships, 11.7 years in 2005 as compared to 11.8 years in 2004.

The average age of ships registered in developing countries (excluding open registry countries) was 13 years in 2005, almost the same as the previous year. For this group, the average age of general cargo ships was 18.6 years while that of container ships increased slightly to 9.6 years.

The average age of tonnage registered in the socialist countries of Asia dropped by a full year to 15.8 years in 2005 while the countries of Central and Eastern Europe continued to have the oldest fleet, 20.7 years in 2005 as compared to 20.5 years in 2004, while ships built more than 15 years ago accounting for the 90 per cent of the total fleet and the average age of bulk carriers being 22.9 per cent.

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