Review of Maritime Transport 2008

With over 80 per cent of world merchandise trade by volume being carried by sea, maritime transport remains the backbone supporting international trade and globalization. In 2007, the volume of international seaborne trade reached 8.02 billion tons - a 4.8 per cent increase year-on-year. Indeed, during the past three decades, the annual average growth rate of world seaborne trade is estimated at 3.1 per cent. Strong demand for maritime transport services was fuelled by growth in the world economy and international merchandise trade. In 2007, the world gross domestic product (GDP) grew at 3.8 per cent while world merchandise exports expanded by 5.5 per cent over the previous year. Growth was driven by emerging developing countries and transition economies which continued to set the pace. Benefiting from improved terms of trade, exporters of fuel and minerals increased their overall import volumes. Imports expanded a double-digit rates in Latin America (20 per cent), Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) (18 per cent), as well as Africa and the Middle East (12.5 percent). Thus, despite rising energy prices and their potential implications for transport costs and trade and despite growing global risks and uncertainties from factors such as soaring non-oil commodity prices, the global credit crunch, a depreciation of the United States dollar, and an unfolding food crisis, the world economy and trade have, so far, shown resilience. The world merchant fleet expanded by 7.2 per cent during 2007 to 1.12 billion deadweight tons (dwt) at the beginning of 2008. With historically high demand for shipping capacity, the shipping industry responded by ordering new tonnage, especially in the dry bulk sector. Vessel orders are at their highest lever ever, reaching 10,053 ships with a total tonnage of 495 million dwt, including 222 million dwt of dry bulk carriers. The tonnage of dry bulk ships on order at the end of 2007 is 12 times higher than it was in June 2002; since mid-2007, dry bulk orders outstrip those for any other vessel type. This influx of new tonnage into the world fleet over recent years has contributed to the decrease in the average are of the world fleet to 11.8 years. As of January 2008, nationals of the top 35 shipowning countries together controlled 95.35 per cent of the world fleet, a slight increase over the previous year figure. Greece continues to maintain its predominant position, followed by Japan, Germany, China, and Norway; together, these five countries hold market share of 54.2 per cent. By May 2008, the world containership fleet reached approximately 13.3 million TEUs, of which 11.3 million TEUs were on fully cellular containerships. This fleet includes 54 containerships of 9,000 TEU and above, which are operated by five companies: CMA CGM (France), COSCON and CSCL (both from China), Maersk (Denmark) and MSC (Switzerland). Twelve existing ships have a capacity of more than 10,000 TEU; these include eight 12,508 TEU ships, owned and operated by Maersk, and four vessels of 10,000 to 10,062 TEU, owned and operated by COSCON. The total TEU carrying capacity on the gearless cellular containerships, i.e. those vessels which require port facilities to discharge, built in 2007 amounts to 1.18 million TEU, which 18.5 times larger than the combined geared capacity of 0.14 million TEU that entered the market during the same period. The rising prices for new ship buildings reflect the continuing high demand, as well as the surge in the price of steel and the costs of local currency inputs if measured in US dollars. The highest increase was recorded for containerships: a 2,500 TEU vessel cost 43.5 per cent more in December 2007 than one year earlier. Dry bulk carriers also recorder high increases, reaching record prices. A 170,000 dwt dry bulk carrier fetched $90 million in December 2007; this is 329 per cent more than a year before, and 2.4 times the price paid in 2000.