According to the latest World Fleet Register data, containerships are owned by 66 nations worldwide. The top six owner nationalities currently contribute 11.4m TEU, 68% of total containership fleet capacity. However, the changing composition of investment in the boxship market since the financial crisis points towards a gradual, but fundamental, shift in the ownership balance.
Varying Sector Focus
The Graph of the Month displays the containership fleets and orderbooks of the top owner nationalities, with each displaying a distinct size sector focus. German owners have traditionally been the key providers of small and midsized tonnage, encouraged by the KG system of finance which provided a framework for investment in these sectors. At the start of June 2013, they accounted for 45% all sub-3,000 TEU capacity and 32% of 3,000-7,999 TEU fleet capacity, with a 24% share in the 8,000+ TEU sector.
In comparison, the Danish-owned fleet (dominated by Maersk Line) and the Italian-owned fleet (dominated by MSC) are focused on the larger sizes, with 8,000+ TEU vessels constituting 46% and 52% of their respective fleets by capacity. Meanwhile, the Greek-owned boxship fleet (largely controlled by charter-
owners) is focused on midsized tonnage, with 3-7,999 TEU ships accounting for 58% of their capacity.
Recent Contracting
0.60m TEU has been ordered in the first five months of 2013, already more than the 0.42m TEU contracted in full year 2012, as a broader spectrum of traditional and new investors take advantage of historically low newbuilding prices. Both operators and charter owners have placed contracts, with significant investment coming from Canada (Seaspan) and Chile (CSAV), while owners from Greece, South Korea, China, Japan, and Germany have also been active.
Others Enter the Fray
As a result of this new contracting landscape, the German orderbook (0.45m TEU) as percentage of its fleet has fallen to 8%, down from a peak of 62% in March 2008. In contrast, the current Greek orderbook of 0.44m TEU is equivalent to 36% of their fleet by capacity. Similarly, China’s orderbook is equal to 39% of the Chinese fleet, while the 1.48m TEU on order to nations outside the top-six is equivalent to 28% of their combined fleet. This pattern suggests that the national ownership composition of the containership fleet will steadily evolve, with a broader base of countries supplying significant quantities of capacity.
So, a number of new owners have entered the boxship market since the financial crisis as the availability of finance to many traditional sources has dried up. However, thus far these new owners have mainly focused on the larger sizes, with the shortfall of investment in small and medium sized ships – owing to the collapse of German ordering – yet to be adequately addressed.
