TOP-cargo-drybulk-shipThe expansion of the dry bulk fleet in January was at an annual rate above 100 Mdwt for the year.
There remains a scheduled 127 Mdwt still to be delivered but of course slippage and scrappings will intervene to reduce the net total. Nonetheless the scrapping of five Capes in January is a sign for owners that it is possible that the expansion of the fleet may not be as rapid as the paper schedule dictates as in the whole of 2010, for example, just 15 Capes were scrapped.
For Panamaxes the large orderbook of some 834 ships is fairly evenly spread between this year and next with a further 100 due beyond 2012 whereas for the other sizes the bulk of deliveries are scheduled for this year. Handysize has the lowest proportion of new orders to existing fleet at 26% in terms of numbers and, having the oldest age profile, appears set to modernise rapidly over the next few years.
For the other sizes the average age ranges between 10.4-12.7 years so the impact of the new deliveries will not be as dramatic as for Handysize. Contracting meanwhile appears to have slowed down substantially in January however we suspect this could be a statistical aberration and that there will be late reporting of some new orders.
There remains a scheduled 127 Mdwt still to be delivered but of course slippage and scrappings will intervene to reduce the net total. Nonetheless the scrapping of five Capes in January is a sign for owners that it is possible that the expansion of the fleet may not be as rapid as the paper schedule dictates as in the whole of 2010, for example, just 15 Capes were scrapped.
For Panamaxes the large orderbook of some 834 ships is fairly evenly spread between this year and next with a further 100 due beyond 2012 whereas for the other sizes the bulk of deliveries are scheduled for this year. Handysize has the lowest proportion of new orders to existing fleet at 26% in terms of numbers and, having the oldest age profile, appears set to modernise rapidly over the next few years.
For the other sizes the average age ranges between 10.4-12.7 years so the impact of the new deliveries will not be as dramatic as for Handysize. Contracting meanwhile appears to have slowed down substantially in January however we suspect this could be a statistical aberration and that there will be late reporting of some new orders.