For the first half of 2017, a total of 11.8m dwt tankers was ordered, with VLCC accounting for 71% of the total tonnage, representing around 8.5m dwt of 27 ships.
As all 27 VLCCs were ordered between January and May this year, it was the highest level of VLCC orders for the first five months since 2008, according to Bimco.
Furthermore, 2.2m dwt of suezmaxes and 1.1m dwt of aframaxes have been ordered.
“Bimco continuously stresses the need for managing the supply in the crude oil tanker industry,” said Peter Sand, chief shipping analyst of Bimco.
“It is essential to handle the supply side as demand growth will not support the market to the same extent, as it did in 2016. If the situation doesn’t ease off, we might see the same fundamental imbalance for tankers, as seen in the dry bulk shipping industry, which will take years to overcome,” Sand commented.
The net fleet growth for VLCCs reached 8.1% in February 2017, the highest level since September 2009. Demolition activity, on the other hand, has been close to zero in a large part of 2015 and 2016, contributing to the fleet growth.
“Bimco expected newbuild activity to pick up, so the recent development is not surprising. It is however not what the industries needs given the present challenges in the market,” Sand said, adding that the current earnings level pointed to little incentive for adding more capacity.
Dry bulk shipping, meanwhile, saw orderbook dipped to its lowest since 2004. The orderbook has declined from 185m dwt in July 2014 to 61.3m dwt in June 2017, which is the lowest orderbook level since April 2004.
In the first five months of 2017, shipowners and investors in the dry bulk sector contracted 4.5m dwt of newbuilds, including 1.6m dwt of capesizes, 2m dwt of panamaxes, and 0.9m dwt of handymaxes and handysizes.
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