China dominates shipbuilding amid slowdown as focus shifts to tankers and bulkers

Consultancy and research company Maritime Strategies International concluded that in 2022 and 2023, newbuilding contracting massively exceeded underlying replacement and incremental demand growth requirements.

“After the container-boosted wonder year of 2021, we anticipated contracting would ease back in 2022 and 2023. It now looks like around 137m gross tonnes was ordered over the two years, with huge investment in container ships, LNG carriers and car carriers,” said MSI director Stuart Nicoll. Read more at TradeWinds

The outlook for dry bulk shipping

MSI’s head of dry bulk freight and commodities research Dr Plamen Natzkoff gave an overview of the dry bulk freight market at the inaugural International Bulk Shipping Conference in London in November 2023.

Dr Natzkoff highlighted the largely positive sentiments in the dry bulk shipping sector in early 2023, which was fuelled by the reopening of businesses in China and the promising outlook for India’s private markets. However, despite these positive expectations, the market faced significant challenges. Read more at Riviera

Box ship owners may benefit from Red Sea and Suez diversions

The containership charter market is set to get a boost from the Red Sea crisis, as ocean carriers look to plug holes in their networks early next year.

Moreover, due to the impact of Suez Canal diversions on their capacity requirements, the carriers are likely to reinstate suspended services and cancel blanking programmes, said MSI in its latest containership HORIZON monthly report. Read more at The loadstar