Greece, Japan, China, Germany and Singapore control more than half of the world tonnage
According to theUNCTAD Review of Maritime Transport 2015, the world fleet grew by 3.5per cent during the 12months to 1 January 2015, the lowest annual growth rate in over a decade. In total, at the beginning of the year, the worlds commercial fleet consisted of 89,464vessels, with a total tonnage of 1.75billion dwt. For the first time since the peak of the shipbuilding cycle, the average age of the world fleet increased slightly during 2014. Given the delivery of fewer newbuildings, combined with reduced scrapping activity, newer tonnage no longer compensated for the natural aging of the fleet.
Greece continues to be the largest ship-owning country, followed by Japan, China, Germany and Singapore. Together, the top five ship-owning countries control more than half of the world tonnage. Five of the top 10 ship-owning countries are from Asia, four are European and one is from the Americas. The Review of Maritime Transport further illustrates the process of concentration in liner shipping. |
While the container-carrying capacity per provider per country tripled between 2004 and 2015, the average number of companies that provide services from/to each countrys ports decreased by 29per cent. Both trends illustrate two sides of the same coin: as ships get bigger and companies aim at achieving economies of scale, there remain fewer companies in individual markets.
UNCTAD Table – Ownership of the world fleet (as of January 2015) dwt
(please click on table for a larger view)
Source: UNCTAD secretariat, based on data supplied by Clarksons Research. For a complete listing of nationally owned fleets, see http://stats.unctad.org/fleetownership