It has been a banner year for shipyards, with the volume of orders contracted at highs not experienced since 2007, and prices in nominal terms at close to record levels.
The latest data from Clarksons Research shows newbuild contracting in the year to date stands at 62.6m cgt worth $190.2bn, recently surpassing the volume ordered in 2013 to reach the highest annual level seen since 2007 when a record 94m cgt was contracted.
“Firm shipping markets in many sectors, fleet renewal efforts and competition for yard slots amid increasing lead times have all driven the strong levels of contracting seen across the year,” Clarksons Research noted in its latest weekly report. Year-to-date ordering in dwt equates to 7% of the start year fleet, and is more than 50% above the annual average since the financial crisis, according to statistics from Clarksons.
LPG carrier ordering has set a new high, whilst LNG carrier and tanker ordering have been firm too. However, the container sector stands out as the biggest spender this year. Data from MB Shipbroking shows that with just two weeks remaining, the 2024 contracting volume has reached about 4.4m teu, breaking the previous record from 2021 when 4.3m teu was ordered.
Given continued strong newbuild demand across the shipping markets, another broker, SSY, said in its latest monthly report that it expects newbuilding prices to remain fairly insulated from the short-term gyrations of individual segments. Shipyards now have the luxury to sit out any cyclical weakness for a couple of years without needing to lower their prices materially, SSY suggested.
Newbuild dynamics were discussed at length at this year’s European edition of the Maritime CEO Forum held at the Monaco Yacht Club.
Tim Huxley, who heads up Mandarin Shipping and moderated the event’s dry bulk session, noted: “We have current newbuilding prices reaching levels which make them unviable especially when combined with the forward delivery now being quoted and is the consolidation we’ve seen amongst the shipbuilders going to allow them to keep prices high? Could shipbuilders suddenly get addicted to profitability?”
