New containership orders continue to race ahead of other sectors, with latest figures from Clarksons showing that orders worth $8.4bn have been placed so far this year
That compares with $8.2bn in the whole of 2010 and just $1.1bn reported for 2009.
The value of orders placed for new containerships during the first four months of 2011 is also more than double the comparable bulker orderbook of $4bn. Only $1.1bn worth of tanker orders were inked in the January-April period.
Deep-sea ships account for $7.8bn of containership orders signed this year, but Clarksons notes growing interest in small capacities.
Of the 25 boxships of 78,800 teu contracted in April, 12 orders for a combined 20,600 teu were for handysizes in the 1,000 - 1,999 teu bracket.
This was the most reported for that size category in a single month since December 2007.