In 2015 the global economy grew by 3.1% (3.4% in 2014); China’s economy, one of the main engines of global growth, showed an increase of 6.9%, the lowest rate of the last twenty five years. The global maritime trade grew by 2.6% (3.4% in 2014), while the world fleet has grown by 3.5%. The increase in dry cargo traffic amounted to 2%, the lowest level since 2010; after two years of decline, however, the oil sector has seen an increase of 4% due to the sharp fall in the price; after the recovery of the 2013/14 biennium, container traffic showed a modest 2.7%. Orders for new bulk carriers decreased; orders for tankers and containership grow.

Despite the forecasts, 2014 was not the year of the recovery for the shipbuilding industry. Without a strong world economy, the fleet utilization rate remained steady although considerable differences amongst the various market segments came to light: a favourable trend for LPG and tankers while bulk carriers recorded a drop. The volatility of freight rates, as characterized last year, arose from endogenous industrial factors due to American shale oil production, which provoked an increase in the LPG shipments and, as a consequence, a drop in the oil price, although the extraction levels remained constant. In the bulk segment, the swing in the Chinese energetic policy led to a reduction in coal consumption while the ban for Indonesia to export bauxite and nickel contributed to the drop of freight rates.

The world economy performed better in 2017 with a growth of 3.7% against 3.2% the previous year. World seaborne trade growth also accelerated from 2.8% in 2016 to 3.7% in 2017. Global dry bulk trade growth accelerated from 1.3% in 2016 to 3.7% in 2017, while the growth in the oil trade inched down slightly from 4.2% to 2.5%. Container throughput growth accelerated sharply from 2.5% to 6.5%.

Global economic growth remained largely fl at at about 3.1% in 2016, while world seaborne trade growth finally rebounded from 1.9% in 2015 to  2.4% in 2016. The market is still struggling to absorb the new tonnage coming in, even if there are signs of a reduction in fleet growth (about 3.2% in 2016 against 3.4% in 2015). Growth in dry bulk trade has been decelerating and reached just 1.4% in 2016, the slowest pace since 2010. After several years of volatility, oil trade growth stabilized around 3.6% in 2016. Container throughput growth reachs 1.5% in 2016. With only 34.1m dwt in newbuilding orders during 2016, the year was very much on par with 2009’s record low after the world was hit by the worst economic crisis since 1929. To read more click oh “details”.