Baltic & International Maritime Council (BIMCO) says that demand for shipyard space will shrink by half after 2014.
Although currently fully ultilized, demand for shipyard capacity is set to fall by 50% in three years’ time.
New tonnage continue to create havoc with shipping’s fundamentals.
“However, the clear and present danger to the shipping industry is actually not the ships on order, but rather how to handle the massive shipyard overcapacity post 2014, with the utilization factor dropping from the present close to 100% to 50%,” according to BIMCO.
If that capacity continues to churn out ships, profitability will remain an elusive quality for shipowners.
“The situation can be overcome only if the shipyard overcapacity is not utilized to build more new ships for delivery within the near-term future,” it concluded.
“The supply situation is an internal job to be handled by the shipping industry,” Bimco said.