Containership order book drops

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.