$43.8 billion fleet awaits delivery in 2016

No fewer than 1,613 ships valued at about $43.8 billion are yet to be delivered to their respective owners this year, going by the facts from VesselsValue.According to the statistics, vessels worth about $28.4 billion have been delivered within the first half of 2016, while the balance are expected to be commissioned and delivered before the end of the year.

Specifically, a grand total of 905 vessels, with a capacity of over 56,7 million deadweight tonnage (dwt) have been handed over to their owners, representing a total value of 39 per cent, while 1,613 ships or 61 per cent are yet to be delivered.Besides, Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) deliveries are on track for the year, with 50 per cent of the 2016 orderbook having been delivered, worth $3 billion.

It could be recalled that the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) had last month taken delivery of five of the six ships it ordered from South Korea. One of the vessels is yet to be delivered.

Others on the list are containership deliveries, with 49 per cent of total value delivered, followed by tankers, with 42 per cent and bulkers with 41 per cent of their 2016 orderbook delivered.

Also, about 36 per cent of small dry bulkers, 28 per cent of liquefied natural gas (LNG) ships, 25 per cent of multi-gas vessels and 20 per cent of Offshore Supply Vessels (OSV) have been delivered.

On the other hand, OSVs are at the top of the list of undelivered ships with 80 per cent of these vessels, valued at $5.5 billion, still waiting for delivery.According to VesselsValue, many of the undelivered vessels in underperforming markets are candidates for slippage as the vessel’s delivery date may be pushed back into the next few years.

2016 could prove to be the weakest year for box production since the collapse of 2009, with equipment increasingly in surplus and the prices decreasing, according to the global shipping consultancy Drewry.

Meanwhile, prices for new dry freight containers have declined to their lowest point since 2002 during the first quarter of 2016, recording a 15 per cent fall.Drewry in its Container Equipment Insight, estimated that the container manufacturing sector made a small net loss in first quarter, due to the fact that steel and other material costs are no longer in decline. Used dry freight container prices lowered as well, to a level not seen since in almost a decade.

Andrew Foxcroft, Drewry’s lead analyst for the container equipment sector said: “New box output has slumped markedly this year, with leasing companies again showing a strong reluctance to buy,”

The depressed state of rental rates which dropped further during first quarter is another reason for the lessors’ inactivity. The average fell another 10 per cent on its position late in 2015, having declined in line with prices.

Drewry said that the slowdown suffered recently by the box lease industry has largely stalled its previous strong rate of fleet expansion, which had already resulted in lessors regaining much of the share lost during the preceding decade.