The competition for a place in the shipyards is getting tougher

The slots in China and South Korea for 2026 are “counted on the fingers of the hand”, while those with scheduled delivery in 2027 are now drying up at high speed.

“The situation regarding the availability of slots is always complicated until the orders are confirmed. “Orderbook data shows significant yard space for 2027 (about 75% of global production), but brokers report that some ship types are close to being sold out,” Stuart Nicoll, Director of MSI points out. Read more at Naftemporiki.

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

Trajectory of soaring newbuild prices divides opinion

The trajectory of newbuild prices which have soared up by as much as 50% in less than three years is dividing experts with owners facing tricky decisions on when to kickstart fleet renewal programmes ahead of stricter 2030 green targets for shipping agreed at the International Maritime Organization this July.

MSI believes that newbuild prices might finally cool down over the next couple of years, a point of view not widely shared with shipbroking houses. Read more at Splash247.com