The INTERCARGO Benchmarking Bulk Carriers 2022-2023 report has been published, which evaluates the bulk carrier industry through various performance indicators.
In particular, the Benchmarking Bulk Carriers 2022-2023 report provides information on detention rates and deficiencies per inspection (DPI) across Flag States, Class, insurers, and Port State Control, in addition to owners’ benchmarking and a review of the negative performance indicators currently affecting the sector.
Global fleet and market trends
The downward trend in the Baltic Dry Index (BDI) has continued into 2023 but has since picked up again reaching around 1600 in May and there is some optimism that the freight market will continue to improve.
This will be driven by a recovery in the Chinese economy leading to an increase in the import of dry bulk commodities and also a possibility that economic activity in much of the rest of the word could begin picking up later this year.
There is also the possibility that a larger volume of bulk carrier scrapping could retrain global fleet expansion.
Casualty reporting
Twenty-six bulk carriers over 10,000 dwt have been identified as total losses during the years 2013 to 2022. The average age of bulk carriers lost was 18.3 years and in total 2.1m DWT have been lost which equates to an average 212k DWT per year.
Cargo shift and liquefaction remain the greatest contributors to loss of life and groundings remain the greatest causes of ship losses. 104 crew members lost their lives during the period.
However, on the positive side the trend in lives and vessels lost has been significantly improving year on year over the last 29 years which is something to be justifiably proud of.
Classification societies
The eleven leading Class Societies (IACS Members) “Class” over 95% of the bulk carrier market with an average dpi of 1.69 which is significantly better than the non IACS classed vessels with an average of 4.31.
Flag
In 2022 the global bulk carrier fleet was registered with 92 Flags, an increase of 4 since last year. Out of the 92, fifteen (15) have fleets of 100 bulk carriers or more accounting for just over 89% of the global bulker fleet.
Port State Control (PSC)
Vessels calling at Australian ports continue to have the worst rate as determined by AMSA at 3.98 versus the average across all authorities of 1.55. In terms of detentions AMSA again is top of the list with a detention rate of 8.52% versus the average of 2.34%.
The detention rates of bulk carriers in Black Sea, Paris and Tokyo MOU regions are all above the average rate. It is disappointing to note that all these parameters have seen an increase since last year’s report.
Detention rates of bulk carriers in the Black Sea and Paris MoU regions continue to be amongst the highest but, as stated above, AMSA records the worst performance at almost 4 times the average for all regions and, for bulk carriers, over two times the rate for all ship types.
The Tokyo MOU region recorded the most bulk carrier inspections at just under 11,000 with in 2nd place Paris and Vina Del Mar recording around 4,000 inspections each.
INTERCARGO–entered ships’ performance
According to the Association, in 2022, INTERCARGO-entered vessels consistently bettered industry performance indicators in terms of both deficiencies and detentions.
However the industry as a whole shows a steady increase in detention rates which while not a major cause for concern does show a disappointing trend upwards. Equally it is noted that deficiencies per inspection rates continue on a flat line.
Intercargo-registered vessels continue to outperform the industry both in terms of Detention Rates (DTR) and Deficiencies per Inspection ratios (DPI).
Detention rates and DPI rates are once again both lower for INTERCARGO members and it is pleasing to see that whilst there has been an overall increase in detention rates in the industry as a whole, the ratio of members’ vessels being detained as part of the total dry bulk fleet fell in 2022.
… said Paul Markides, Marine Quality Manager at Intercargo
Negative Performance Indicators (NPI)
Comparing 2022’s figures against the last three Benchmarking Reports it can be seen that hull/machinery damage remains the top NPI at around 31% of all recorded incidents while collisions retains the number 2 slot at almost 23% showing a slight reduction over the previous year.
On a positive note, anchoring and mooring related NPI’s recorded 0% and cargo related NPI’s showed a marked decrease over the period.
Protection & indemnity
The market share enjoyed by the Members of the International Group of P&I Clubs (IG) has seen a steady decline in the last three years remaining at around 80% while the market share of the non-IG Clubs has seen a steady increase and is now around 20% of the market.
In performance terms measured in deficiencies per inspection (DPI) Members of the IG Clubs continue to record significantly less than the rest of the industry at DPI 1.45 versus 2.59.
Gard maintains its top spot in 2022 maintaining around 11% of the market in terms of ship numbers but the award for the best performance in DPI terms goes to Britannia with a score of 1.15.
