1 Fleet development 2012

摘要

Global shipping is still in crisis. The sharp drop of demand in 2008/2009 and the record growth of capacity in 2011 and 2012 opened a huge gap between demand and supply which weighs heavily on the earnings of the industry. The year 2012 brought a lot of change to the world merchant fleet. The order book continued its sharp decline to now 16 per cent of the fleet, as new orders fell to a decade low. Ship breaking reached an all-time high with 59 million dwt, surpassing 2011 volumes by 23 per cent. Nevertheless, the world's merchant fleet continued its tonnage growth with another 6.7 per cent compared with 8.6 per cent one year earlier. Fleet capacity growth has been above six per cent for the eighth consecutive year now.