Greek fleet reduces in number of ships, increases in tonnage

Indeed, which ship number have been in decline since the boom in deliveries of newbuildings the carrying capacity is at its highest since the record of 2018 when the fleet reached 4,148 ships of 341.93m dwt.

This revealed in statistical data assembled by the London-based Greek Shipping Cooperation Committee (GSCC) for the 33rd consecutive year. The data has been provided by IHS Markit.

According to the data, at March 2, Greek interests controlled 3,968 vessels of various categories, of 340.824m dwt and 199.694m gt.

This is a decline of 49 vessels, but an increase of 1.274m dwt and 1.53m gt. This includes the 158 vessels of various categories on order from shipyards, of a total 18.411m dwt and 13.012m gt.

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Greek fleet over the last 20 years

Ships dwt gt

Mar	2000	3,584	150,966,324	90,227,491
Mar	2001	3,618	168,434,370	100,220,348
Mar	2002	3,480	164,613,935	98,195,100
May	2003	3,355	171,593,487	103,807,860
Mar	2004	3,370	180,140,898	108,929,135
Mar	2005	3,338	182,540,868	109,377,819
Mar	2006	3,397	190,058,534	113,603,803
Feb	2007	3699	218,229,552	129,765,470
Feb	2008	4,173	260,929,221	154,599,274
Feb	2009	4, 161	263,560,741	156,214,619
Feb	2010	3,996	258,121,898	152,616,046
Mar	2011	3,848	261,675,981	153,128,919
Mar	2012	3,760	264,054,167	155,904,976
Mar	2013	3,677	265,336,520	155,988,384
Mar	2014	3,901	290,847,132	170,984,684
Mar	2015	4,057	314,456,451	184,063,875
Feb	2016	4,092	320,597,574	188,904,194
Mar	2017	4,085	328,763,767	192,430,519
Mar	2018	4,148	341,925,357	199,286,013
Mar	2019	4,017	339,549,357	198,164,080
Mar	2020	3,968	340,823,637	199,693,859

The fleet is trading under 32 flags, one fewer than in March 2019 led by Liberia and the Marshall Islands, both of which have grown over the past 12 months, while the Greek-flagged fleet has declined in terms of ship numbers, dwt and gt. The home flag fleet now comprises 636 ships, of 65.64m dwt and 38.8m gt.

Liberia and Marshall Island flags are at the forefront of the Greek-owned fleet with 866 and 850 ships, respectively, and Liberia is at 77.323m dwt, representing 22.7%of the total Greek dwt and Marshall Islands is at 69.344m dwt, representing 20.3% of the total dwt. Malta comes next with 673 ships of 62.1m dwt.

Further, the Greek flag is no longer the largest in terms of dwt, as it represents 19.3% of the total. Panama comes next with 375 ships of 22.2m dwt, Cyprus, 226 ships of 17m dwt and the Bahamas with 203 ships of 18.24m dwt. Over the past 12 months, Cyprus lost 22 Greek-owned ships of 2m dwt.

The current orderbook for Greeks comprises 61 oil tankers, 11 chemical and products tankers, 45 liquefied gas tankers, 27 ore and bulk carriers, 11 container ships and three other cargo ships on order.

Overall, the Greek-owned fleet, stands at 7% of the world fleet in terms of ship numbers, 13.2% in terms of gt and 15.6% in terms of dwt. It’s notable that Greek parent companies represent 26.6% of the world tanker fleet and 14.7% of the ore and bulk fleet.

The GSCC notes that due to the unstable market conditions and new regulatory requirements, slight increases and decreases were noted in most of the categories of the Greek owned fleet. “In particular, many categories recorded an increase in det and a slight decrease in number of ships, reflecting a preference by Greek shipowners for larger vessels,” said the GSCC.

Containerships are an exception, presenting a slight increase both in dwt and number of ships in relation to the corresponding world fleet type for the year 2019.

Average age of the Greek-controlled fleet in terms of ships increased slightly compared to the previous year, but continues to be 2.4 years below the average age of the world fleet. The average age of the Greek fleet in terms of ships now stands at 11.7 years as against 14.1 years for the world fleet. In terms of gt and dwt, it is 9.9 and 9.8 years respectively, as against 10.1 and 9.8 of the world fleet.

The average age of the existing Greek-flag fleet recorded a slight increase, in terms of ship numbers, gt and dwt, standing at 13.7, 9.9 and 9.7 years respectively as against 13.4, 9.7 and 9.6 years end-February 2019.

The bulk of the Greek fleet is classed with six societies: Lloyd’s Register: 794 ships (809 ships in 2019), ABS: 759 ships (781), ClassNK: 690 ships (709), BV: 685 ships (679 ), DNV GL: 615 ships (599) and RINA: 193 ships (215 ships in 2019).

It should be noted however, that although LR ranks first in terms of vessels, ABS comes first in terms of dwt and gt.

When it come to the Greek-flag fleet, the breakdown is: ABS: 190 ships (185 ships in 2019), Lloyd’s Register: 141 ships (164), DNV GL: 99 ships (108), RINA: 77 ships (77), BV: 62 ships (64), CCS: 19 ships (17) and ClassNK: 14 ships (17 ships in 2019).

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