Amid drastically depressed shipping and shipbuilding market, order for commercial ship in the first half of 2012 has plummeted. And total value of offshore related orders, such as drillship, FPSO, etc., has exceeded that of commercial ship for the first time.
In a recent report from Clarkson Research, a total of 3m dwt (94 vessels) was signed in June, which represents a 20% decrease in dwt terms month-on-month. Particularly, the containership sector rapidly increased in June, with 19 new boxships having been ordered, including 15 5,000-teu medium-sized vessels.
During the first six months, overall 20.9m dwt (485 vessels of a combined 8.8m cgt) was contracted, down by 46% from 2011 on an annualized basis.
An estimated $7.2bn was invested in newbuilding contracts during the last month, which brings the total investment in new orders during H1 to an estimated $30.3bn, declined by 41% year-on-year.
Particularly, during the first half, total amount of investment in offshore segment turns out to have exceeded that of commercial ship by 7.5% with $15.7bn, including an order for one 0.5-MTPA LNG-FLRS, valued at around $500m, awarded at China's Wison Offshore & Marine, etc.
At the end of June 2012, global orderbook stood at 301.4m dwt (5,142 vessels of a combined 100.5m cgt), declined by 22.3% in dwt terms and 18.5% in numerical terms.
A total of 11.1m dwt (139 vessels) was delivered in June, which brings the total amount of deliveries during the first half of 2012 to 87.4m dwt (1,254 vessels of a combined 25.4m cgt).
In the first six months, 56.1m dwt of bulkers and 18.6m dwt tankers have entered service, of which 135 capesize bulkers have been delivered that compares to 128 capesize deliveries during H1 2011 and 101 during the first half of 2010.
With the record amount of tonnage already delivered in H1, 2012 is expected to be the largest delivery year.
The Clarkson newbuilding price index, at the end of June, stood at 131.3p, down by 2.5p month-on-month and 7.5p on the end of last year. Particularly, month-on-month decline in June (2.5p) turns out to bigger than that in May (0.4p), which increases concerns over newbuilding price stagnancy. Especially, 4,800-teu containership benchmark newbuilding price experienced the largest monthly drop from $53m at the end of May to $48.5m as of the end of June.
Meanwhile, a total of 3.7m dwt (81 vessels) was sent to recycling yards in June, representing 32% month-on-month decline by 32%. In the first six months, overall 29.4m dwt (625 vessels, average age 27.6), the largest record ever among Clarkson's overall statistics.
The average VLCC demolition price fell from $425/ldt at the end of May to $370/ldt at the end of June.