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07 December 2023 - Year XXVII
Independent journal on economy and transport policy
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FORUM of Shipping
and Logistics


The Shipbuilding market in 2000 (6)


  • Finland

top

The two shipyards in Finland Aker-Finnyards and Kvaerner-Masa remain concentrated on the production of passenger vessels, ro-pax and ferries for the former and exclusively of cruise ship newbuilding for the latter.

Aker-Finnyards succeeded in securing four ferry orders for the account of foreign shipowners: SeaFrance, Tallink and Hesbrides Islands. Kvaener-Masa for its part firmed up its orderbook with three newbuildings for Carnival Corp. and two for Royal Caribbean Cruises.
 

  • Denmark

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The nineties were marked by the closing of many shipyards in Denmark, such as Burnmeister and Wain and Svendborg in 1996, North Sea Shipyard in 1997 Aarhus Flydedok in 1999 and Danyard in 2000.

The only significant remaining shipyards are Odense and Orskov, this latter which has taken over some of the activities of Danyard.

The Association of Danish Shipbuilders has expressed concern that the disappearance of Danish shipyards could have a domino effect on the other segments of the maritime industry in Denmark, similar to what happened in Great Britain or Sweden and that the Danish expertise in the maritime sector will fade away over time.
 

  • Netherlands

top

BITHAV
6,400 dwt, built 2000, high heat 250'C - owned by Tarbit Shipping

The orderbook for Holland is stable at about 598,000 gt as of the third quarter 2000, with a distinctive feature of an important production of smaller vessels, generally below 10,000 dwt.

Up to now, this specialisation in construction of all types but in small sizes has shielded Dutch shipbuilders from some of the competition from Asian shipyards, when supervision and positioning costs are factored over the smaller size and earning power of these vessels. Competition has also been avoided due to the fact that Korea's builders have targeted larger sizes. Japan's shipyards for smaller sizes limit themselves to building for the less demanding standards of their domestic owners.

However, the special niche in servicing the demand from European shipowners for smaller sized vessels is now being challenged by many of the shipyards in China who are very keen to build any size of vessel.

This challenge from China might be accelerated by the ending of shipbuilding subsidies and the tax incentive schemes in place during the 1990's for Dutch owners to build their fleets in Holland.

Shipbuilders in the Netherlands are being aggressively proactive compared with other Europeans in using their expertise in design and project management to a competitive advantage by combining their skills with the experienced low labour cost in Eastern Europe. The Damen Group has been one of the leading innovators in this trend of subcontracting the construction of hulls in countries like Romania (where Damen has now taken control of the Galatz shipyard) and then bringing the hulls for completion in Holland, Germany, Norway or elsewhere.

This trend has already led to a sustained rebirth of shipbuilding in Romania that is expected to expand to larger sizes and whole completed vessels being built as standards and efficiency increase to internationally accepted levels. A similar set of developments is already underway in Ukraine. There is expectation that this trend of marrying Western finance, design, production and management skills with post-Soviet collapse under utilised shipbuilding capacity will accelerate, given the cost advantages obtainable and proximity of the players involved and the customers they are serving.

CHASSIRON
5,100 dwt, built 2000 by Niestern Sander - operated by Petromarine
  • Norway

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The Norwegian shipyards have succeeded with a remarkable performance in the year 2000 and have obtained almost 33 billion kroner's (about US$ 3.6 billion) worth of contracts. This figure is a strong improvement over the 1999 contracts value of nine billion kroner (about US$ one billion) and even more so over the 1998 results of four billion kroner (about US$ 450 million).

Almost 15 billion kroner (about US$ 1.68 billion) of orders came from the offshore sector which consisted of more than 70 orders for all types. Another significant order was for an ocean going resort ship at Fosen Shipyard. The Kleven Floroe shipyard was also successful in signing orders for four large sized chemical tankers.

The owners who were willing to contract in Norway were able to benefit from the weak exchange rate between the kroner and the dollar as well the opportunity to take advantage of remaining shipbuilding subsidies available for contracts signed before the end of 2000.
 

  • Croatia

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Croatian shipbuilding was able to profit from the return of peace to the region as well as the saturation of shipyards in Korea.

In the summer months of 2000 Croatian yards were able to offer delivery dates much earlier than shipbuilders in the Far East at prices that were competitive as well. These factors combined with Croatia's excellent reputation and experience in building product carriers placed the country in good position to participate in the new product tanker market cycle and sign a number of orders from both Northern European and Mediterranean shipowners.

Most noteworthy was the ability of Trogir, after a number of painful years without orders to take numerous contracts for product tankers of 47,000dwt.

The Croatian orderbook as of the fourth quarter 2000 stood at about 970,000 gt (compared with 765,000 gt in 1999). There was a great deal of active negotiation taking place in the fourth quarter 2000.
 

  • Poland

top

Polish shipbuilders also benefited from the filling up of the Korean shipyards and the number of European owners, especially Germans, who placed orders for container vessels. Poland succeeded in doubling its orderbook in 2000 to 2.814 million gt (compared with 1,490,000 gt in December 1999).

If Croatia was notable for the number of Mediterranean owners it attracted, then Poland was even more successful in concluding business with German, and Scandinavian owners looking for very specialised newbuildings such as LPG tankers, product carriers and stainless steel chemical carriers, ro-ros and ro-pax.

Poland's evolution into the top ranks of the world shipbuilders has been accompanied by aggressive corporate restructuring, management rationalisation, improved use of assets and expansion of capacity and modernisation.
 

United States of America

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The shipbuilding industry in the United States experienced some interesting developments after a long decade of low civilian newbuilding activity and less than one percent of the world orderbook. The year 2000 saw an increase of the USA orderbook up to 1,020,000 gt.

Ingalls shipyard, is currently building two cruise ships for the account of American Hawaiian / AMCV for delivery at the beginning of 2003 and 2004. This is an important development to follow and one, which, if successfully concluded, could be the source of unexpected competition to the European shipbuilders who presently dominate the special niche market of cruiseship building.

Year 2000 also saw BP placing orders for three tankers of 185,000 dwt with NASSCO (average price about US$ 210 million each). They were followed by Polar Tankers who placed an order at Avondale.

The majority of the large American shipyards continue to survive in servicing the needs of the US Navy. On the civilian side they operate under the protection of the Jones Act which obliges the very few owners who wish to trade in American short-sea trades to employ vessels built in American shipyards. Civilian shipbuilding consists predominantly of vessels serving the specialised needs of the US offshore and oil industry.

Shipbuilders in the United States do not have to face foreign competition and can obtain prices well in excess of the prevailing international market levels. The disadvantage is that US shipbuilding prices are so high that civilian US flag merchant marine transportation activity has been driven to near extinction and as a result almost all domestic transportation for lower value bulk cargoes in the US is performed by trucks, trains or barges.

Given the indirect subsidies provided by American military spending and the occasional need to build high priced Jones Act vessels for high value cargoes like crude oil, the American shipbuilders have no need for direct subsidies and have been recently absent from the debate between the European, Korean and Japanese shipbuilding associations.

Outlook

top

Is the rise in newbuilding prices observed in 2000, after almost ten years of decline, a sign of a sustainable improvement for the shipbuilding industry?

Nothing could be less certain.

2000 can be considered as an exceptional year, as an unprecedented level of economic expansion was experienced. Freight rates reached historical highs, and almost all market sectors were reaching these new levels at the same time.

Demand was particularly strong. Numerous shipowners clearly anticipated the need to renew their fleets. Trade expansion also required fleet increase for tankers, containerships and bulkers simultaneously.

We must recall that newbuilding prices still stay at levels equal to or below the pre-Asia crisis ones, in an ever increasingly competitive environment.

However for the moment the world major shipbuilders are sitting on full orderbooks.

Thus, the fleet on order for tankers has reached 16 % about the same figure as in 1991, the bulk fleet 15 % about the same figure as in 1994 and finally for the containership sector the orderbook, as percentage of existing fleet, was 28 % (passing the last historical high of 25 % set in 1996). Table "Percentage of the active fleet on order by type" shows high ordering points reached and already passed.

History has demonstrated that freight rates go down each time these maximum high newbuilding ratios are reached, followed by a reduction of investment in newbuildings, unless newbuilding prices follow the same trend down as freight rates. Will this pattern repeat itself?

For the near term, the volume of orders is likely to decline, as shipyards with full orderbooks can afford to wait before cutting prices in a fight to get orders, and also because shipowners along with their bankers would like to know, or at least have a more clear indication of what direction the global economy is headed before deciding on any new investment.
 




Shipping and Shipbuilding Markets in 2000

I N D E X

›››File
FROM THE HOME PAGE
IMO resolution to stop the activity of shadow fleets used to circumvent sanctions
London
Exhortation to the approx states to scrupulously inspect ships carrying out ship-to-ship operations
The EU Commission has updated the European list of ship recycling facilities
Brussels
Includes 45 yards, of which 26 are in the European Union
A ONE container of the ONE in failure in the Suez Canal
Ismailia
Naval traffic has not been interrupted
Hoekstra confirms the strategy to mitigate the impact of the ETS on EU ports, but specifies that monitoring will happen on an ongoing basis
MSC in talks to acquire French logistics company Clasquin
Lyon
After obtaining 42% percent of the capital, an offer will be made for the remaining share
MCL Feeder Services will go under the ownership of Unifeeder
Aarhus
Both companies operate feeder services in the Mediterranean
Seaspan Corporation enters the Naval segment of the Pure Car and Truck Carrier
Vancouver
Will acquire garage ships that will be chartered to Hyundai Glovis
Project for the creation of an autonomous vehicle for combined road-rail transport
Woodland
It is developed by the Glid Technologies that has signed an agreement with the Port of Woodland
Koper confirms the first container port of the Adriatic
Koper
Already exceeded the share of one million uneventful teu since the beginning of the year
Three ships attacked in the Red Sea
Tampa / London
Missiles and drones launched from the Houthi-controlled area. Intervention by the American destroyer "USS Carney"
In the third quarter, the transits of ocean vessels in the Panama Canal decreased by -4.4%
Ancón
In the first nine months of 2023, shipping traffic fell by -3.3% percent.
The IMO Assembly elected the members of its Council for the biennium 2024-2025
London
On Thursday, the election of the president and vice president
BLS Cargo hopes for measures to support rail freight transport on the Rhine-Alps corridor
Bern
To penalize this mode are mainly the construction sites, the prices of rail tracks and energy.
On Tuesday in Livorno, the experimental phase of the Single Customs and Controls will be launched.
Livorno
The system favours the coordinated and concurrent control of controls
Record shipping traffic for November in Suez Canal
Ismailia
2,264 ships transited (+ 4.3%)
Fincantieri will acquire Remazel Engineering
Trieste
The Company specializes in the design and supply of highly customized and high complexity equipment topside equipment
FEPORT, ETA, EMPA and ECASBA are urging the EU Commission to assess without delay the negative impact on European ports of the extension of the ETS to shipping
In the third quarter, the turnover index of the transport services marked a negative trend.
Rome
The conjunctural variation is nothing
In the third quarter the port of Tanger Med has handled more than 2.2 million containers (+ 13%)
GPH has detected shares of Royal Caribbean in cruise terminals at ports in Barcelona, Malaga, Singapore and Lisbon
London
The American group has sold 38% percent of the capital of Barcelona Port Investments to Global Ports Holding.
Two ships of the Messina carry the caravan of means for the Dakar Rally
Genoa
The 845 means will be landed on December 14 in the Saudi port of Yanbu
Activate the telematics platform to access the Sea Modal Shift
Rome
Today at 15 a presentation webinar
Viking orders Neptun Werft the construction of ten river cruise ships
Rostock / Los Angeles
They will be delivered by 2026
Meeting in Gioia Tauro ahead of the establishment of the Agency for Port Work
Joy Tauro
It will have to take over the Gioia Tauro Port Agency, whose deadline is set at the end of January.
Italy is out of China's Belt and Road Initiative
Genoa
Merlo (Federlogistics) : good for ports and logistics, but also for our shipbuilding industry
At Logiport (Grimaldi) the management of the new Darsena ferry Civitavecchia
Cyvitavecchia
Above the offer of the Livorno Terminal Marittimo
Uniport presents its strategy to make ports the engine of growth
Rome
Legora de Feo : our sector needs today a systemic view of port policies
PSA Italy is set to close 2023 with a traffic of more than two million containers
Genoa
The volumes in Venice are growing. In Genoa, there is an increase in activity at Sech and a decline in Pra.
Nicolò Iguera is the new president of YoungShip Italy
Rome
Renewed the Governing Council for the biennium 2023-25
TX Logistik finalized the acquisition of Exploris Deutschland Holding
Rome
Established the second operator of iron freight transport in Germany
SIOT-TAL will invest 44.4 million euros in upgrading of Trieste's Terminale Marino
Trieste
Work entrusted to the Fincantieri Infrastructure Works Maritime Works
Agostinelli, well the search for Salvini of broader convergences on the proposal for the ETS moratorium
Joy Tauro
The President of the AdSP reiterated the risks to the port of Gioia Tauro
European Council of Transport, not addressing the theme of the risk of loss of competitiveness of transhipment ports caused by EU ETS
Brussels
No response to the concerns expressed by Cyprus, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Malta and Portugal
ACGM confirms no to the constitution of an agency for the provision of temporary port work in Taranto
Rome
Following the march back of the AdSP, antitrust will not propose an appeal to the TAR
Maersk will enhance its facilities and logistical activities in Southeast Asia
Copenhagen
Planned investment of more than 500 million
In the port of Valletta the first supply to an electric power ship of the ground network
London
To equip the five quays of the cold ironing terminal, 49.9 million euros have been invested.
SAILING LIST
Visual Sailing List
Departure ports
Arrival ports by:
- alphabetical order
- country
- geographical areas
Agreement of the Italian Academy of Mercantile-De Wave in the field of shipbuilding
Genoa
Collaboration for the training of technicians for the supervision and installation of facilities on ships
Anthony Veder-Accelleron agreement for assistance to turbochargers of 13 ships
Baden
Agreement based on a fixed fee applied to effective hours of operation
Ellerman seals a slot agreement with MSC related to transatlantic shipping routes
London
It will enter into force on the first January
AdSP of the Northern Adriatic, the Management Committee approves the third change in budget
Venice
Confirmed the adjustment of 25.15% of maritime demanial canons for 2024
Revamped the North East Confectural Steering
Venice
Paolo Salvaro confirmed to the presidency, while Manuel Scortegagna was appointed vice president.
GNV starts a new recruiting campaign
Genoa
The first date on Monday and Tuesday in Naples
Logistics group Public Spinelli publishes its first Sustainability Budget
Genoa
Ok the transfer of the concession of Terminal Ferry Barcelona to the Grimaldi Group
Barcelona / Naples
Deliberation by the Catalan Port Authority after the green light of the antitrust authority
The IMO assembly unanimously confirms the appointment of Velasco as secretary general
London
The term, lasting four years, will begin next January.
Launched in Ancona the cruise ship Viking Vela
Trieste
It will be delivered at the end of 2024
PORTS
Italian Ports:
Ancona Genoa Ravenna
Augusta Gioia Tauro Salerno
Bari La Spezia Savona
Brindisi Leghorn Taranto
Cagliari Naples Trapani
Carrara Palermo Trieste
Civitavecchia Piombino Venice
Italian Interports: list World Ports: map
DATABASE
ShipownersShipbuilding and Shiprepairing Yards
ForwardersShip Suppliers
Shipping AgentsTruckers
MEETINGS
Conference on changes in port logistics
Ravenna
It will be held in the first December in Ravenna
Conference of Uniport on the future of Italian portuality
Rome
It will be held on December 5 in Rome
››› Meetings File
PRESS REVIEW
Ports cyber hack reveals Australia's 'vulnerability' to attack
(The New Daily)
Economy Minister: Anaklia port project developing “according to plan”, “no delays” in deadlines
(Agenda.ge)
››› Press Review File
FORUM of Shipping
and Logistics
Relazione del presidente Mario Mattioli
Roma, 27 ottobre 2023
››› File
Port of the Spezia, signed the contract for the realization of the new pier cruises
The Spezia
Expected two benches of the length of 393 and 339 meters
d' Amico International Shipping will become part of the FTSE Italia Mid Cap Index
Luxembourg
Includes the 60 companies with the largest market capitalization listed on the MTA and MIV markets of Borsa Italiana
Santi Casciano appointed CEO of the Going Gateway and Reefer Terminal
Go Ligure
Will take office on December 15
Rexi : signed the conventions with 12 interports for more than 11 million intended for completion of the network
Rome
The notice for an additional eight million euros will be published shortly.
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