ECSA - The Tramp Shipping Market Mar 2015

A2.1 Bulk carrier Market Profile
World
EU-28
No. m. Dwt m. GT No. Owners No. m. Dwt m. GT No. Owners
Fleet (Feb-2015) 10,373 761.3 420.5 1,723 3,154 229.9 126.4 551
Orderbook (Feb-2015) 1,954 162.7 89.5 305 660 56.1 30.8 109
O'book as % of fleet 18.8% 21.4% 21.3% 17.7% 20.9% 24.4% 24.4% 19.8%
Top 20 Owners' Fleet (Feb-2015) 1,759 193.8 103.9 20 720 77.8 41.3 20
% of fleet 17.0% 25.5% 24.7% 1.2% 22.8% 33.9% 32.7% 3.6%
Ownership Type (Feb-2015)
Independent Private 6,611 463.7 257.0 1,439 2,663 192.6 105.9 520
Public Listed 2,328 193.0 105.5 112 348 30.2 16.2 20
State Interests 951 59.7 33.7 98 91 3.4 2.1 3
Cargo Interests 306 30.8 16.6 41 14 1.5 0.8 2
Financial 90 6.7 3.7 16 38 2.3 1.3 6
Oil Company 49 4.0 2.2 4
Other 38 3.4 1.8 13
NB Contracts (2014) 695 60.6 33.3
% of fleet 6.7% 8.0% 7.9%
S/H Sales (2014) 405 29.0 15.9
% of fleet 3.9% 3.8% 3.8%
Entry Conditions. Relatively easy. Vary between the major commodities. Pooling arrangements and high asset costs in the large vessel
sectors exist.
Type of Cargo, Charters. COAs, period charters and spot chartering all widely used.
Cargo Volumes (Dry Bulk) 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Global Imports, m.tonnes 3,218 3,311 3,217 3,605 3,841 4,098 4,331 4,503
growth 3% -3% 12% 7% 7% 6% 4%
EU Imports, m.tonnes 629 604 430 485 500 476 473 484
growth -4% -29% 13% 3% -5% -1% 2%
Chinese Imports, m.tonnes 575 624 925 981 1,115 1,263 1,430 1,477
growth 8% 48% 6% 14% 13% 13% 3%
Source: Clarkson Research, February 2015. Includes vessels in excess of 10,000 dwt.
Bulk carrier Sector Overview
The major bulk cargoes include raw materials (e.g. iron ore & coal), cereal in general, minor ores
and phosphates. At an owner level the sector is not highly concentrated, with the top 20 owners responsible
for 25% of the fleet (though this does not mean that they have 25% of any particular bulk
trade). However, the level of concentration might be seen to be greater looking at the operator level,
noting that many ship operators are chartering vessels from across the spectrum of ownership.
Demand for bulkcarriers is spread among utilities companies, commodity producers and traders. The
picture is different across cargoes; in the iron ore market activity is focused within a few major Australian
and Brazilian players, whilst the coal and grain markets are much more fragmented. A very
large proportion of dry bulk demand has been driven, in recent years, by the expanding Chinese steel
and construction industry, with China’s share of dry bulk imports rising from 18% of all imports in
2007 to a third in 2014. This picture is again different across cargoes, with Chinese imports of iron
ore in 2014 accounting for almost 70% of all iron ore imports in that year.
There is some pooling activity in the dry bulk sector, whereby a major shipper can call on a ‘pool’ of
ships taken from a group of shipowners, although it is not as prevalent as in some other shipping
markets. A notable development in this regards has been the recent establishment of a capesize pool
of around 220 vessels, the first capesize pool since the last closed in 2002. The pool is expected to
operate between Bocimar International, Golden Union Shipping, Golden Ocean, Start Bulkcarriers
and C Transport Holdings.
Clarkson Research Services 48 March 2015