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World Shipbuilding & Repair (continued) Scrapping Down The broken-up tonnage in 1990 was negligible, totaling just over 1 million gt for all vessels types. The apparent shortage of construction capacity, and high prices, have pro- vided a strong incentive to owners to prolong the lives of existing ships. With only an estimated 0.25 million gt of tankers broken up in 1990, there is clearly a significant increase in the average age of the tanker fleet. However, environmental is- sues and legislation, particularly in the U.S., are expected to focus atten- tion on this aspect and the economic viability of older ships. Laid-Up Tonnage Levels Off The fall in total laid-up tonnage appears to have bottomed out in 1990 following a continuous decline since 1982. The end of the year total of 2.9 million gt was only 0.1 million gt down on the December 1989 total. There did, however, appear to be a change in the proportions of vessel types making up this tonnage. Laid- up tanker tonnage continued to fall, ending the year at 1.6 million gt. This was counteracted by an ob- served rise in dry cargo tonnage to 1.3 million gt. The modest lay-up is put into perspective when noting that 2.9 million gt is only 0.7 percent of the total world fleet. Fleet Growth Increases in the total gross ton- nage of each of the tanker, dry bulk and general cargo/container vessel groups resulted in a rise of over 13 million gt in 1990. The total gross Cross Tonnage Ordered Annually 1981-1990 Million gt 25 1 Estimated Percentage of Ship Repair Market Shares by Region Region 1985 1988 1990 1993 1995 N. America 5.4 4.5 4.4 4.4 4.4 N. Europe 31.4 23.7 24.4 24.4 24.4 S. Europe 15.9 19.5 17.9 17.3 17.0 SE Asia 6.0 13.5 14.0 15.0 15.5 Japan 19.5 13.7 13.9 13.9 13.7 Far East 8.1 10.3 10.8 10.0 10.2 Mid East 0.7 2.0 2.1 2.5 2.6 Rest of World 13.0 12.7 12.4 12.4 12.3 Sourve: Drewry Shipping Consultants Ltd. !»! I9S2 1**3 1«M MB I9S6 !
