“Greece showed the second biggest increase in value for any of the top shipping nations reviewed by the research company as of January, 2019 and puts in top spot. The total asset value of the Greek owned fleet was over $100 bill.”
According to the annual research undertaken by VesselsValue, the Greek fleet has increased its total value by over $5 bill in just 12 months. VesselsValue analyses the fleet by country of owner domicile each January to produce its Top 10 listing.
Greece showed the second biggest increase in value for any of the top shipping nations reviewed by the research company as of January, 2019 and puts in top spot. The total asset value of the Greek owned fleet was over $100 bill.
The increase comes from growth in LNGC ordering and tanker values rising. Greece has moved into pole position as owning the highest valued LNG fleet in the world, up from $13 bill at the start of 2018 to $18.4 bill. This put Greek owners ahead of Japan, whose fleet came in second at $15.2 bill.
Greece’s biggest loss was in the MODU sector, due to George Economou’s drill ship sell off and lower asset values overall, which have depressed the net value.
Japan remained in second place of VesselsValue’s top owning countries.
The rebound in bulker values was the largest boost to the end of year fleet valuation, followed by tankers and LNGCs. It is interesting to note that Japanese- based companies saw the largest addition of value from LPG carriers, a segment in which many other nations saw an erosion of value.
Coming in at No 3 was China, which saw the largest increase in value for any of the top 10 highest valued fleets.
An additional $6.3 bill has been added, bringing the total fleet value up to just over $90 bill. At the same time, the Chinese suffered the largest drop in total container fleet value.
Continuing the trend from last year, China has increase its standing from third to second place for the most vessels on order award.
Singaporean owners have jumped up a notch into fourth place, increasing fleet value by $3.1 bill.
Singapore now sits comfortably above the US and Norway. The majority of the increase comes from containership growth, most notably attracting the Japanese container liner operation ONE to locate to Singapore.
At number five is Norway, due to its pole position as the number one home for offshore assets.
Over $20 bill in assets puts it above US-based owners, who clock in at almost $17 bill. The country also maintained a sizeable presence in the tanker markets.
US exposure to the offshore markets, which have suffered further asset value declines, has knocked the nation down to sixth place in terms of corporate ownership.
One major contributing factor to their declining asset value is that the country has the highest number of offshore vessels aged 15 years and older.
This percentage of old, potential scrap candidates had a negative effect on overall asset value.
Down in seventh place, Germany’s fleet continued to contract year-on-year, with the majority of last year’s woes coming from containerships.
Dropping a further $1.7 bill, Germany’s container fleet continued to shrink from high sales and demolition activity.
It was a very positive year for South Korean owners, who have increased their fleet value by over $5 bill in the three largest markets of bulkers, tankers and containerships, which moved the country into eighth place.
One interesting trend was the decline in LNGC asset values held by South Korean owners, which was in part due to the removal of some older, steam powered units from service.
Meanwhile, the UK slipped down a place to ninth.
The ownership by segment is diverse, and no one market decline is responsible for the drop.
There could be some risk aversion ahead of the country’s planned exit from the EU that is driving investment to other areas.
Last in 10th place, the Danish fleet is heavily dependent on the container markets, but this segment saw little volatility, adding modestly to the net value.
However, weakness in clean tanker asset values dragged down the total value of the fleet. source: tankeroperator
