Orders for new LNG carriers have swelled by more than 400% in the first half of 2011.
Clarksons counts 27 new LNG carriers penned between January 1st and the end of June, dwarfing five contracts signed in the whole of 2010.
Clarksons Andrew Condon explains the high activity has lifted the sector’s orderbook from 5.6% to 13.1% of the existing fleet.
He said: “LNG trade growth is projected to reach 7.0% this year, whilst greater demand for LNG from Japan following March’s earthquake has tightened vessel supply, boosting earnings.”
Meanwhile, capesize bulker sector has seen its orderbook shrink by more than 12% to 48.3% of the fleet this year, Condon writes, while the suezmax tanker tally has pulled back 7% during the past six months.
He said: “Much of this can be attributed to a higher level of deliveries. In the capesize sector, 21.5 million dwt of new vessels have been delivered in the year to date, which marks a 16.7% increase compared to the same period in 2010.
“However, this alone cannot explain the universal declines seen in the tanker and bulker sectors, as shown by the fact that suezmax deliveries in the year to date were lower than those made in the same period in 2009 and 2010.
“Instead, overcapacity has begun to have an effect on the shrinking tanker and bulker orderbooks. This has depressed demand for newbuildings, with the result that contracting volumes for suezmaxes and capesizes have fallen.”