Thus far in 2017, new building contracting activity has been considerably more promising than the same period of 2016, largely down to a more aggressive pricing structure from shipyards, which in turn has seen an increase in orders.
Allied Shipbroking noted that “up till now the year has shown considerably better activity levels in the new building front then what had been seen over the majority of 2016. It seems as though some of the aggressive pursued by shipbuilders marketing has started to pay off. The new financing structures on offer and considerable price discounts have started to attract the attention of some owners, although they are still relatively few in number”.
Allied added that “at the same time it seems that the prevailing belief amongst most owners is that we are set to see a further drop in new building prices, something that may well be proving to deter most potential buyers from taking any hastily made actions right now, while given that we have yet to see any real spark or vigor in the freight markets of the main bulk ship types such as dry bulkers and tankers, there seem to be limited reasons to real push buyers onto the new ordering route”.
In reality though, is it possible for the shipping industry to perform any worse than it did in 2016?