Greek companies continue to lead the way in vessel ordering this year, followed closely by Chinese firms, according to Alibra data.

Some 146 firm vessels have been ordered so far this year across the bulker, tanker and container segments. Some 26 optional vessels are attached, of which all but two are for tankers – showing that shipping companies still see some potential upside in the wet trade. Whether these options will be exercised is anyone’s guess.

Internationally, buyer appetite continues to be for tankers.

Of all 93 firm orders for tankers from buyers around the world, 27 are for VLCCs (plus 8 options – the most numerous). Some 23 orders have been placed for aframaxes, of which around half will be LR2s. A great deal of orders have been seen for small tankers too – we’ve tracked deals for 21 tankers of up to 15,000 dwt.

So far this year, Greeks have ordered 40 of these 146 firm vessels, while Chinese buyers account for 26. China has exclusively contracted tankers across a wide range of tonnages. Only around 65% (26 vessels) of Greek orders were for tankers, in which they favoured VLCCs (15 ships). We’ve also tracked firm orders from Greeks for 14 bulk carriers, of which 10 will be panamaxes.

International companies continue to favour China and South Korea as the place to build their bulkers, tankers and containerships.

Respectively, the countries account for 45% and 44% of all the firm orders we’ve tracked this year. Japanese yards have so far only snared 7%.

Source: Alibra Shipping Limited