Jonathan Roach, container market analyst at the brokers, said: “With more than 1.7m teu expected to be delivered in 2013, the ratio is set to fall to approximately 16% by the end of the year”.
He added: “During the six year ordering boom between 2003 and 2008, in the region of 10m teu capacity was ordered. The order book ratio peaked at approximately 60% in 2007, when in excess of 3m teu was ordered. In the five years since the global financial crisis, vessel ordering has declined; from 2009 to 2013, we estimate that just 4m teu will be added to the order book.”
Braemar believes that even though ship finance has become more difficult to secure since the 2008 banking crisis, new orders have increased in 2013, stating that the new building market “certainly has not collapsed”. It claims that new building activity is “ticking over”, with selective and niche container ship ordering.
“This year to date, we have noted 80 containership orders with a combined capacity of 580,000 teu. In the corresponding period in 2012, only half that number of ships was contracted, with a combined capacity of 230,000 teu,” said Roach.
“Even with underwhelming global container demand seen in 2012 and a similar growth pattern expected this year, new orders are still materialising as shipyards reduce new-building prices in a strategy to bolster and maintain their forward cover,” he concluded.
