The 4,057 ships of over 1,000 gt each is also the highest since it peaked in 2008 / 2009 at 4,173. Also up is the number of ships flying the Greek flag and the home-flag tonnage. However, the average age of the Greek fleet is up a month on 12 months ago, but is still well below the world average.
In its annual survey of the Greek fleet, the London-based Greek Shipping Co-operation Committee (GSCC) term the trend as "very satisfactory" noting the figures include 374 vessels, of various categories, of 38m dwt and 23.5m gt on order from shipyards.
Based in Lloyd's Register - Fairplay data, the GSCC says the Greek flag stood at 839 ships (up 20 ships), 80.5m dwt (up 4.4m dwt) and 47.2m gt (up 3m gt). In all, some 46 flags fly from the stern of Greek controlled ships. Liberia is the second choice for Greek owners with 739 Greek-owned ships of 54m dwt, then the Marshall Islands, 697 ships of 54.8m, Malta, 606 / 48.55m dwt, Panama, 398 / 25.2m, Cyprus, 253 / 17.7m and the Bahamas with 243 ships of 17.53m dwt. No flag suffered significant losses over 12 months to mid-March with Liberia gaining 61 ships, Marshall Islands 55, Greece 20, Malta 14, Bahamas 12 and Cyprus 11.
With the exception of the chemical and product tankers, other cargo and passenger ship types, which had slight decreases, the percentage of all other types of Greek controlled vessels has increased relative to the corresponding world fleet type for the year 2014.
It is calculated Greeks increased their share of crude tanker capacity in 2014 to 26.6% from 24.9% a year ago. By contrast, their share of chemical and products capacity slipped from 13.9% to 13%. In the dry bulk sector, Greek owners added 104 bulkers and 9.7m dwt to their fleet, lifting their share of the world bulker fleet to 16.9%, compared with 16.4% a year previous.
Average age of the Greek controlled fleet in terms of ships was steady at 10 years, continuing to be 2.5 years below the average age of the world fleet. The age of the fleet is eight years in terms of gt and 7.9 years in terms of dwt. Average age of the trading Greek flag fleet, including the passenger ship sector has decreased slightly, in terms of ship numbers, gt and dwt to 11.4, 8.3 and 8.2 years respectively against 11.5, 8.5, and 8.3 years March, 2014.
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