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UK merchant fleet increased by 7% in 2017

Official data from the UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency shows that gross tonnage on the UKSR has increased by 18% compared with the end of 2014, following three consecutive years of growth. Moreover, the UK registered merchant fleet grew by 7% in gross tonnage (GT) in the year to end December 2017, a third consecutive year of growth. Lastly, the UK share of the world trading fleet was 0.8% at the end of 2017, with the UK registered trading fleet the 18th largest in the world by deadweight tonnage.

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Tycoon Fredriksen on ship buying spree

New, fuel efficient tanker vessels Shipping magnate John "Big Wolf" Fredriksen has quietly bought a dozen new, fuel efficient tanker vessels in recent months and said he may spend billions of dollars more as the global shipping crisis has created opportunities too good to pass up.Norwegian-born Fredriksen, 67, predicted the crisis would last another two or three years, driving many shipping firms and shipyards out of business, and the survivors would be the few low-debt companies backed by long-term owners with liquidity and an established name."The good days we had are over for quite some time," Fredriksen told Reuters in a rare interview. "The market will return, but only in two or three years, and until then it's going to be pretty desperate.""When the market goes to hell, it's more of an opportunity than a problem," said Fredriksen, whose personal wealth is estimated at $11.3 billion by Forbes magazine.Shipping firms went on a binge of ordering new vessels, designed to transport anything from crude oil to iron ore and containers, between 2007 and 2009. The new capacity hit the seas just as global demand imploded from prolonged economic turmoil.Charter rates and asset values plummeted just as bunkers fuel costs soared ...

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