Greek shipowners have been cautious when it comes to placing new ship contracts in the first five months of 2011, according to Piraeus-based shipbroking house Golden Destiny.
A more bullish attitude has been seen in contracting container vessels with shipyards, with 29 boxships ordered so far this year by Greek owners.
But this mirrored international confidence in the sector’s prospects as overall a total 183 containerships were ordered up to the end of May, the broker said.
Greek companies have clearly curbed their activity in contracting further dry bulk carriers and tankers since last year.
According to Golden Destiny, Greece-based owners ordered 35 bulk carriers of an aggregate 2.6m dwt in the year to end-May.
This was about 10% of dry bulk capacity ordered internationally and compares with 53 bulkers of 5m dwt ordered by Greeks in the first quarter alone in 2010.
In the tanker sector, Golden Destiny counted just nine vessels ordered by Greeks in the first five months of the year, aggregating 1.3m dwt.
This compared with 20 tankers of 2.7m dwt contracted in the first quarter of 2010.
Altogether only 53 tankers of 5m dwt have been ordered worldwide so far this year, according to the broker’s statistics.
In the container sector, Greek owners are showing “preference towards large sizes, large panamaxes and post-panamaxes,” the broker said.