Clarksons Research Services, in its latest weekly report, highlights how Asian shipowners are finally reinventing their European counterparts to become the dominant force in global shipping.
European owners have historically had the largest share of the global fleet, with 44% of gt at the turn of the century, and Asian owners 32%.
Led by rapid growth in China, Asian shipowners overtook Europe last year, and looking at global orders, the gap will widen in the coming years. According to a recent report by Clarksons Research, by the end of 2021, Asian shipowners currently have a market share of 43% (48,472 ships, 637 million gt) of world fleet capacity in terms of gross tonnage, surpassing that of European shipowners. 42% market share of fleet capacity (30,610 vessels, 630 million gt).
Over the past decade, Chinese shipowners have increased their fleet gross tonnage from 111 million to 226 million and are now the second largest shipowner of all countries with a 15% global share. shipping goods in China
Asian shipowners now account for 43% of global tonnage, with 48,472 vessels totalling 637 million tons, according to Clarkson. This exceeds the 42% share of European shipowners, comprising 30,610 vessels with a gross tonnage of 630 million.
“The tonnage shift from Europe to Asia looks set to continue for some time, with almost half of the global order book (79m GT, 49%) going to Asia Pacific owners compared to 33% (53m GT) for European owners,” Clarksons pointed out.
Asia dominates many other aspects of maritime, including ports, shipbuilding and crew supply.
In addition, Asia's growing market share in global trade is driving a large number of newbuilding investments in many Asian countries, which will eventually lead to a significant increase in fleet capacity share.
It is worth noting that despite the fact that countries in the region have experienced some of the strictest epidemic prevention and control restrictions in the past two years, with borders effectively closed for two years, the growth of the Asian fleet has remained very strong during the pandemic. s level.
Take the shipping industry as an example. After the outbreak, the container shipping market rebounded rapidly from the second half of 2020 after a brief downturn. Due to the supply chain congestion caused by the epidemic, there is an urgent need for a large number of container ships in the market. During this period, Asian container shipping companies ordered 236 ships, with a total capacity of 1.81 million TEU. And the pace of newbuilding orders is still showing no signs of slowing down.
With the exception of Greece, fleet growth in other European countries has been relatively sluggish, or even reversed. Taking Germany as an example, the combined capacity of German shipowners fell by 34% to 62 million gt during the same period.
Clarkson also said that this trend will continue to develop. Because the current market share of newbuildings owned by Asian shipowners also accounts for nearly half - 49% (79 million gt), it is worth mentioning that the total capacity of Chinese shipowners' newbuilding orders has reached 29 million gt, 18% of the world share.
However, the newbuilding order capacity of European shipowners is currently only 53 million gt, and the share is only 33%.
