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WORLD SHIPBUILDING World Order Book Hits 13-Year High At 43 Million GT Tankers Account For Just Over 50 Percent Of Tonnage Despite the Gulf War, a world-wide economic recession and the uncertainty surrounding new envi- ronmental legislation, as of the end of last year, the world shipbuilding order book stood at its highest level since 1977, topping the 43 million gross ton mark. It is the fifth con- secutive year that the order book has risen. Lloyd's Register reported that there were 1,355 ships totaling 15.9 million gt under construction world- wide, with 1,175 ships of 27.3 mil- lion gt not commenced at the end of 1991. Over 86 percent of the 43.2 million gt world order book is sched- uled for delivery by the end of 1993, with new orders totaling 5.9 million gt during the 4th quarter of 1991. Tankers accounted for 50.8 per- cent, bulk carriers 19 percent and general cargo 16.5 percent of the total order book. Last year, 19.9 million gt of new ships were ordered, a fall of over 4.1 million gt from the 1990 figure. This New Construction Statistics 1982-1991 Annual new orders —— Annual completions Total order book as at 31st Dec. Source: Lloyd's decline reflects owners' uncertain- ties caused, first, by the Gulf War; second by the anticipated effects of the U.S. Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA 90); and third, by the ship- yards, placed in a strong negotiat- ing position because of a relatively crowded order book and the result- ing lack of building capacity; and lastly, the effect of overall economic conditions worldwide. Examination of orders by vessel type shows that this 4.1 million gt is accounted for by a fall in demand for tankers—down to 8.9 million from nearly 14 million gt in 1990, confirming the Gulf War and OPA 90 as major factors. Though ore, bulk and combina- tion carrier tonnage showed signs of improvement against the 1990 fig- ures, the 5 million gt ordered is unlikely to improve the profile of the aging dry bulk fleet. As the impact of OPA 90 starts to take effect, figures show that the current order book includes 141 oil tankers with double hull and or double bottom designs, totaling just over 18 million dwt. It also should be noted that the order book contains several tankers whose owners have yet to take up an option on the double hull configuration. In addition, some 2 million dwt of com- bination carrier tonnage with double Table 1. Merchant Ships Completed During 1991 TOTAL Percentage TOTAL PREVIOUS YEAR Gross Of World Deadweight Gross WHERE BUILT No. Tonnage Tonnage Tonnage No. Tonnage ARGENTINA 8 7,542 0.05 6,792 8 5,342 AUSTRALIA 17 21,396 0.13 15,234 20 26,935 AUSTRIA 5 12,445 0.08 13,180 1 2,489 BANGLADESH 2 479 0.00 550 _ — BELGIUM 8 8,127 0.05 8,642 6 58,381 BRAZIL 6 230,659 1.43 372,794 7 256,350 BRUNEI 2 473 0.00 682 — — BULGARIA 9 59,629 0.37 82,324 10 80,213 CANADA 9 5,350 0.03 733 11 3,409 CHILE 8 3,546 0.02 3,524 14 6,668 CHINA, PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF* 35 309,823 1.92 473,746 46 366,826 CHINA, REPUBLIC OF (TAIWAN) 11 513,764 3.19 895,403 10 667,220 COLOMBIA — — 0.00 — 1 276 CZECHOSLOVAKIA 4 12,344 0.08 12,592 3 9,258 DENMARK 27 441,586 2.74 619,886 29 394,677 EGYPT 6 19,800 0.12 26,250 1 148 FINLAND 7 156,466 0.97 36,615 16 247,098 FRANCE 27 108,836 0.68 20,122 26 59,639 GERMANY, FEDERAL, REPUBLIC OF 82 774,502 4.81 905,068 97 856,071 GREECE 3 3,063 0.02 3,633 17 22,096 HUNGARY 2 1,212 0.01 422 6 3,636 ICELAND 1 480 0.00 592 1 645 INDIA 8 1,180 0.01 485 11 70,163 INDONESIA 2 776 0.00 390 10 19,312 IRAN - - 0.00 - 1 1,704 ITALY 28 499,896 3.11 633,842 27 371,810 JAPAN 602 7,282,756 45.25 11,298,425 633 6,824,119 KOREA (SOUTH) 112 3,496,693 21.73 5,821,590 110 3,459,786 MALAYSIA 9 18,049 0.11 31,471 5 20,605 MALTA 2 12,790 0.08 15,400 2 6,570 MEXICO 2 3,177 0.02 3,773 1 23,236 NETHERLANDS 84 210,837 1.31 253,742 65 163,293 NEW ZEALAND 2 335 0.00 20 _ _ NORWAY 40 124,247 0.77 100,932 40 79,828 PERU 11 3,479 0.02 532 5 1,883 PHILIPPINES - — 0.00 — 2 1,980 POLAND 47 193,842 1,20 227,547 34 103,580 PORTUGAL 14 21,171 0.13 23,474 16 73,519 ROMANIA* 14 175,522 1,09 273,340 14 159,752 SINGAPORE 52 114,325 0.71 142,419 29 38,614 SOUTH AFRICA 2 4,096 0.03 10,200 2 4,599 SPAIN 59 317,422 1.97 482,678 97 363,100 SWEDEN 6 38,276 0.24 9,486 14 28,994 TURKEY 23 79,939 0.50 87,198 10 31,132 U.S.S.R.* 106 254,797 1.58 294,257 142 367,395 UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - — 0.00 _ 2 826 UNITED KINGDOM 31 185,470 1.15 274,742 29 130,650 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 17 9,335 0.06 11,522 16 14,695 YUGOSLAVIA 22 355,173 2.21 576,560 25 456,853 WORLD TOTAL 1,574 16,095,105 100.00 24,072,809 1,672 15,885,375 Source: Lloyd's Register * Data incomplete June, 1992 25
