The following is text of a news release from VesselsValue:
(LONDON) — Vessel deliveries typically slow down toward the end of the year. If shipowners wait a few weeks, allowing the delivery to slip into the new year, the vessel is considered a whole year younger. Many sectors can expect a higher proportion of the order book to hit the water in future years.
There are 1,966 vessels which have deliveries dates scheduled for 2018. However only 1,100 have hit the water so far this year, meaning 44 percent of the 2018 order book is outstanding.
Out of the three top shipbuilding countries, China still has 50 percent of its 2018 orders to deliver within the last two months of the year. Compared to Japan and South Korea, where 25 percent and 28 percent of their respective order books are currently outstanding, Chinese yards could potentially slip 446 vessels into next year's delivery schedule.
Ship types with the highest number of outstanding 2018 scheduled deliveries include all offshore vessels types (MODUs at 75 percent of 2018 vessels still to be delivered, OSV 69 percent, OCV 67 percent) and the small dry sector at 54 percent.
USA offshore owners
In the years prior to the oil price crash, OSVs would typically make up 30 to 50 percent of American deliveries. However, offshore support vessels reduced their proportion of the total U.S. deliveries, with only 13 hitting the water in 2017 vs. 63 in 2014. While the slowdown of deliveries is being experienced around the world, the American company Edison Chouest is bucking the trend by taking delivery of 12 OSVs so far this year, with only one still in the schedule.
