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Shipping Statistics and Market Review
Shipping Statistics and Market Review
Shipping Statistics and Market Review
Shipping Statistics
and Market Review
Volume 54 No 7 - 2010
Market Review
Analytical Focus
World Merchant Fleet
World Tanker Market
World Bulk Carrier Market
World Container and General Cargo Shipping
World Merchant Fleet by Ownership Patterns
World Passenger and Cruise Shipping/
ISL Cruise Fleet Register
World Shipbuilding and Shipbuilders
Major Shipping Nations
World Seaborne Trade and World Port Traffic
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Contents – World Merchant Fleet by Ownership Patterns www.isl.org
Page
ISL Comment 5-10
Tab. 1 World merchant Fleet by Ship Type and according to national and foreign Flag ................ 5
Tab. 2 Additions to the World merchant Fleet by national and foreign Flag distribution according to
Ship Types During 2005 and 2010 (in mill dwt) ............................................................ 6
Tab. 3 Newbuilding additions During 2009 of the Top 5 Countries of Domicile by national
and foreign Flag (in mill dwt) ..................................................................................... 6
Tab. 6 Total merchant Fleet (Controlled Fleet) by Region and national/foreign Flag share ........... 7
Tab. 8 World merchant Fleet Registered for Panama and Liberia according to Countries of Domicile 8
Tab. 9 Controlled Fleet of the Top Ten Countries of Domicile by national/foreign Flag ................. 9
Tab. 10 Major Ship Types’ national and foreign Flag distribution according to the Top Ten
Countries of Domicile ................................................................................................ 9
COMMENT - FIGURES
Fig. 2 Ships registered under foreign and national Flag by division of Age and major types ........ 5
Fig. 3 World merchant Fleet tonnage by national and Top Ten Open Registries as of
January 1st, 1989-2010 (in mill dwt) ........................................................................... 7
Fig. 4 TonnAge development of major Open Registry Flags as of January 1st, 2006 - 2010 ......... 8
Fig. 5 Open Registry Flags by Ship Type as of January 1st, 20100 ............................................ 9
Page
ISL InfoLine Special 11- 15
(1) ONLINE INFORMATION COMPILED FROM LEADING INDUSTRY SOURCES (2) ISL SEABASE – NEW LITERATURE .................................... 11
(4) EU FLEETS
4.1 Key Figures on Fleet development .............................................................................. 33
4.2 EU Registered Fleet’s %-Share in World Fleet 2006 - 2010 ............................................ 34
4.3 Number of EU Flag Registered Ships by Division of Age and Ship Type ............................ 34
4.4 EU Fleet by Registered Flag and Country of Domicile According to Ship Types .................. 35
4.5 Development of EU Controlled Fleet and %-Share on World Fleet 2006 - 2010 ................. 36
4.6 EU Controlled Fleet by Countries of Domicile ............................................................... 36
4.7 Foreign Flag Registered Tonnage of EU Countries of Domicile by Top Ten Open Registers .. 37
4.8 EU Fleet Additions for Top Ranking Countries of Domicile 2005 - 2009 ............................ 37
(6) FUTURE TONNAGE DECELOPMENTS FOR OPEN REGISTRY, OECD AND EU COUNTRIES
6.1 Ships in the World Order Book for Open Registry Flags by Ship Types ............................. 39
6.2 Ships in the World Order Book for OECD Flags by Ship Types ........................................ 39
6.3 Ships in the World Order Book for EU Flags by Ship Types ............................................. 40
This “short comment” is an excerpt from the “Analytical Comment” published in the ISL Shipping
Statistics and Market Review (SSMR) No 7-2010.
The SSMR includes detailed statistical information concerning the “analytical focus” and provides
approx. 30 monthly/quarterly market indicators (Market Review).
For more information compare attached “contents”
Regional grouping
According to the ISL fleet database, Asian and European
ship owners largely control the world merchant fleet. It is
worth noting that all regions except North America Sources:
increased their foreign flag shares during recent years. If not otherwise mentioned, the source for tables and figures
concerning the world merchant fleet, special ship type features and
The regional grouping of countries of domicile shows that order book information is “ISL based on IHS Fairplay”, please quote
accordingly.
547 million dwt or 48.3 % of the world merchant fleet
were attributable to Asian-owned parent companies. With Country of registration and country of domicile
Country of registration indicates the country of the port of registry of a
501 million dwt, European ship owners controlled a share country (flag). The country of domicile indicates where the controlling
of 44.0 % of the world merchant fleet, of which 86.3 % interest of the fleet is located in terms of the parent company. This
information is applicable to merchant fleet vessels of 1000 gt and
controlled by shipping companies based in EU-27 above.
countries.
During the last five years, the average tonnage growth of National flag Foreign flag Total Foreign
open registries reached 8.4 % per year. Table 6 reflects that No of mill No of mill No of mill flag dwt
Year ships dwt ships dwt ships dwt % share
especially the Marshall Islands, Liberia and Malta
2006 5,795 161.6 11,446 442.1 17,241 603.8 73.2
experienced an ongoing expansion of their fleets. These
2007 5,873 167.7 12,386 493.5 18,259 661.2 74.6
flags realised average growth rates of 12.3 %, 11.6 % and 2008 5,977 177.7 12,869 514.5 18,846 692.2 74.3
10.9 %, respectively. 2009 6,031 175.5 13,782 562.4 19,813 737.8 76.2
2010 6,141 190.5 13,749 569.1 19,890 759.6 74.9
The strongest increase from 2009 to 2010 was observed av. growth
for the Liberian flag with 15.1 %. At the beginning of rate 2006-2010 1.5 4.2 4.7 6.5 3.6 5.9
2010, the Liberian fleet stood at 141 million dwt as against Note: Ships of 1000 gt and over
123 million dwt one year before. The world’s second
largest register Liberia is the most-favoured register for Tab. 5: EU fleet by national and foreign flag as of
German and Greek ship-owners. January 1st, 2006-2010
Favoured open registers by ship type National flag Foreign flag Total Foreign
No of mill No of mill No of mill flag dwt
For most open registries, a specialization on certain ship Year ships dwt ships dwt ships dwt % share
types and countries of ownership can be observed. 2006 3,250 105.8 6,574 223.8 9,824 329.6 67.9
Looking at the “specialties” of the top-ranking open 2007 3,389 113.3 7,161 255.2 10,550 368.5 69.3
registry flags, the following observations are worth noting: 2008 3,498 123.0 7,632 269.0 11,130 392.1 68.6
2009 3,538 127.9 8,083 290.0 11,621 417.9 69.4
Flagged-out general cargo ships, container ships, 2010 3,509 132.2 8,105 300.0 11,614 432.2 69.4
tankers and bulk carriers were mainly attributable to av. growth
Panama. rate 2006-2010 1.9 5.7 5.4 7.6 4.3 7.0
Note: 2003 EU 15, from 2004 – 2005 EU 25, since 2007 EU 27
Liberia has a particularly strong position in the tanker
market. OECD Countries as per January 1st, 2010
The Bahamas are in the lead as open registry for Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland,
France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Rep. of Korea, Iceland, Italy,
passenger ships. Ireland, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand,
It is mainly German and Greek ship owners who use Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey,
UK and US.
the Liberian flag. EU Countries as per January 1st, 2010
The Panamanian flag is mainly used by Asian ship Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia,
Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia,
owners. Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal,
The registry of Cyprus is mainly used by Greek and Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, UK
German ship owners. Major Open Registries
Countries permitting the registration of ships owned by non-residents. In
The foreign flag registration is a determining factor for the general, ISL figures on open registry flags are restricted to the top ten
major flags: Panama, Liberia, the Bahamas, Marshall Islands, Malta,
fleet development of all leading shipping nations. Cyprus, Antigua & Barbuda, Saint Vincent, Bermuda and Cayman
Islands. (01.01.2010).
year’s results indicate that most top ten flags except 150.0
Liberia
Norway (-13.5 %), UK (-0.6 %) and Germany (-0.7 %) 100.0 Marshall Isl. Bahamas
increased their controlled fleets’ tonnage potential. The Malta
50.0
largest tonnage increases were attributable to Korea (16.7
%), China (11.7 %) and Hong Kong (9.2 %). Compared to 0.0
2006, China and Germany increased the controlled 2006 2010 2006 2010 2006 2010 2006 2010 2006 2010
tonnage by 59 % and 48 % respectively dwt—the highest Note: Ships of 1000 gt and over
growth rate within the top 10 shipping nations.
Fig. 5: Open registry flags by ship type as of January 1st, 2010
The tonnage decrease of Norway provides an example for (dwt %-shares)
the “financialization” of the market and the decoupling of
Bulk carriers
owners from operators. With the registration of the Tankers
previously Norway-based Ship Finance International Others Panama Panama
55.6%
Limited in Bermuda, Norway instantly lost a considerable 28.6% 29.5%
Liberia
share of its controlled fleet. Marshall Liberia Others 12.7%
Islands 25.3% 23.1% Marshall
In absolute terms, the top three leading shipping nations, 16.7% Islands
8.6%
Greece, Japan and Germany, increased their tonnage in the
period 2006-2010 by 31.7 % equal to about 114 million Container ships General cargo ships
dwt.
Panama Others
2.3 Open registries attributable to major countries 39.3% Liberia
34.5%
40.4%
Panama
of domicile Others Marshall Marshall Liberia
38.3%
20.2% Islands Islands 13.8%
At the beginning of 2010, OECD countries’ foreign flag 6.0% 7.5%
2006 reflects the tonnage regrouping between traditional Fig. 6: Controlled fleet development of major shipping nations as of
open registry flags as well as the growing importance of January 1st, 2006-2010 (dwt – yearly average growth rate)
emerging new registers.
250.0
German ship owners used increasingly Liberia (47.5
Japan
%), Antigua & Barbuda (13.1 %) and the Marshall 200.0
Islands (12.7 %) as open registries. Greece
187.5 183.2
mill dwt
the Marshall Islands (40.1 %) and the Bahamas (12.1 Germany
%). 100.0 104.1 101.9
China, PR of
Japanese ship owners favoured the Panamanian flag 50.0 44.4
(79.8 %), whereas Liberia (22.0 %) and Malta (19.5 Korea, Rep. of
%) were especially relevant for Greek ship owners. 0.0
2.4 Top ten nations’ engagement in specific 0.0 2.5 5.0 7.5 10.0 12.5 15.0
shipping markets average annual dwt growth in %
Note: Ships of 1000 gt and over
The average yearly tonnage growth of major shipping
nations differs significantly (compare figure 6). The highest
growth was attributable to China. In the period 2006-2010, Tab. 7: Registered tonnage share of top ranking shipping nations
the tonnage controlled by Chinese ship owners increased according to major open registry flags as of January 1st, 2010
on average by 12.2 % yearly (+38 million dwt). Korea’s
Major open registry flags (dwt %-share of total foreign flag)
fleet expansion was also remarkable with an average
Saint Vincent
Marshall Isl.
Cayman Isl.
Bahamas
TOTAL Foreign
Panama
Differences can also be ascertained with respect to ship
Cyprus
Liberia
Others
Country of mill flag dwt
Malta
Saint
types. Fleet figures indicate that approximately 53 % of the domicile dwt %-share
US, and 50 % of the Norwegian controlled deadweight Japan 79.8 4.0 1.8 2.1 0.2 0.3 - 0.1 0.0 0.3 11.4 168.9 92.2
Greece 14.9 22.0 13.9 9.7 19.5 9.5 0.1 0.2 1.5 0.5 8.3 128.8 68.7
tonnage are attributable to tankers, whereas the tonnage Germany 4.0 47.5 12.7 3.2 4.1 4.9 13.1 0.8 0.0 0.9 8.6 87.0 83.5
controlled by Chinese, South Korean and Japanese is China, PR of 41.6 0.4 1.7 0.7 0.3 0.3 - 2.5 2.8 - 49.7 62.1 61.0
Korea, Rep. of 92.6 - 5.0 - 0.1 - - - - - 2.4 25.9 58.4
mostly concentrated on bulk carriers (compare table 9). US 11.5 6.4 40.1 12.1 2.2 0.3 0.1 1.4 0.4 4.4 21.1 28.2 81.0
Taiwan 47.5 27.0 - - - - - - - - 25.5 26.2 87.4
2.5 Future tonnage of the leading shipping Norway 12.5 4.3 12.7 21.5 3.1 0.6 0.5 0.2 0.1 - 44.5 24.7 65.5
nations UK 12.8 21.7 7.5 9.5 1.1 5.5 0.1 1.6 0.3 0.0 39.7 23.4 73.0
Denmark 6.8 0.9 1.8 3.6 3.4 0.3 0.6 - 0.3 0.2 82.3 19.7 61.3
Looking at specific market segments, the following TOTAL 32.1 16.6 8.9 7.1 6.7 3.3 1.6 0.8 0.8 0.5 21.6 595.0 70.0
tendencies are worth mentioning: of which
OECD 34.5 15.7 9.5 7.9 6.9 3.5 2.2 0.6 0.5 0.7 18.1 569.1 74.6
Tankers on order at the beginning of 2010 reached a EU 27 9.9 26.6 11.4 7.8 11.4 6.3 4.0 0.9 0.9 0.6 20.1 300.0 69.3
volume of 145 million dwt. Of those ships for which Note: Ships of 1,000 gt and over
the controlling owner is already known, the largest
tonnage volumes were contracted for Greece (26
million dwt), China (11 million dwt) and Japan (9 Statistical details “ Ownership patterns”
World merchant fleet by national and foreign flag p. 16
million dwt). World merchant fleet by country of domicile p. 17-22
Major open registry fleets p. 23
The world order book for bulk carriers stood at 272
million dwt. The future bulk carrier tonnage ordered by Statistical details “ Ownership patterns”
the top ten countries reached 187 million dwt. Over 50 OECD fleet key figures p. 28
OECD registered flag and country of domicile
% are registered under foreign flags. Large shares of according to ship types p. 29-32
the future tonnage are attributable to owners in EU fleet key figures p. 33
EU registered flag and country of domicile
Greece, China, Japan and Germany. according to ship types p. 34-37
Container tonnage on order accounted for 56 million
Statistical details “Future tonnage developments”
dwt, of which 38 million dwt are registered under the Ships in the world order book for open registry,
top ten open registry flags. Two thirds of this tonnage OECD and EU countries p 39/40
volume was flagged out. The largest container tonnage Ships completed for OECD and EU countries of domicile p. 40
volume was ordered for Germany, namely 20 million Ships on order for OECD and EU countries of domicile
by major ship types and delivery schedule p. 41/42
dwt, followed by Greece and China (each 4 million New orders for top ranking OECD and EU countries of
dwt). domicile by major ship types and major countries of build p. 43/44
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