Greece holds on to top ship owning nation title

Monday, 16 January 2017 00:21 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Kicking off the New Year, VesselsValue has put together a list of the top 10 ship owning nations by fleet value in 2017.

Despite suffering the biggest total drop in total feet value, Greek owners held onto their spot at the top with a $ 84.079 billion fleet, reflecting a decrease of nearly 12% in the cargo sectors. Greece also held onto its lead in the bulk carrier and tanker categories.

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“Greek tanker owners started 2016 earning more than $ 100,000/day on their vessels. However, the rest of the year has been predominantly bearish. By the end of 2016 the Greek fleet had shrunk by close to $ 11 billion,” said VesselsValue senior analyst William Bennett.

“Coming in second [in terms of total value lost] was the USA, whose fleet lost $ 4 billion, less than half the Greek losses,” Bennett said. Falling less than 1% in total value, Japanese owners were able to inch closer to the lead. Japan is the leading owner of LNG and LPG carriers.

“Bulkers have had a deceptively good 2016 following the record lows at the start of the year,” Bennett said. “The top three bulker owning nations; Greece, Japan and China, have seen their fleets rise by over $ 4 billion each. This growth has supported acquisitions following some of the lowest asset prices seen since the 1980s.”

Falling from fourth to sixth, the German cargo fleet lost close to 30% of its value mainly due to the depressed container market. Yet, the nation remained the top owner of containerships.

Bennett said, “The German container fleet shrunk by nearly $11 billion throughout 2016 after large losses in the sector. The largest softening was experienced in the panamax and post-panamax sectors with some vessels losing up to 60% of their value. German losses are fuelled by this as 59% of their fleet consists of panamax and post-panamax vessels.”