Multipurpose Orderbook Of 220 Vessels


'Barely 5 percent' of Existing Fleet, Dynamar Says

The current global orderbook for multipurpose vessels is only 220 vessels, barely 5 percent of the existing fleet, according to the latest research from shipping consultancy Dynamar.

The findings are published in Dynamar’s fifth consecutive breakbulk report and point to a global fleet consisting of 4,700 ships with total deadweight for 63 million tons.

“Following the mid-2000s breakbulk heydays, there was a peak in production between 2007 and 2012, when annually more than 200 ships were delivered. Such levels had not been seen since 1985. Since 2015, production has fallen back again to below 100 units per year and in 2018 only 66 units hit the waters,” Matthieu Neering, general manger at Dynamar noted.

 
BBC Claims Top Spot

Ranking the current incumbents, Dynamar notes that BBC Chartering of Leer/Germany is “the undisputed No. 1” by aggregate heavy-lift capability of its fleet, followed by Zeamarine of Hamburg, Amsterdam-based Spliethoff, Cosco Shipping Specialised Carriers of Guangzhou/South China and China/Polish Chipolbrok.

“However, by average heavy-lift capability (irrespective of deadweight), it is HMM with just four vessels, heading this ranking with an average of 640 tons. Here, Chipolbrok comes second with 570 tons and Singapore’s AAL third with 470 tons. Numbers four and five are Zeamarine, with 395 tons, and BBC Chartering, with 380 tons,” Neering adds.
 
The research also highlighted Zeaborn, owner of Rickmers Linie and Zeamarine, as the fastest growing breakbulk operator.


Ro-Ro 'a Valuable Add-on'

The report’s authors also suggest that demand for breakbulk capacity via roll-on, roll-off vessels is set to change as conventional deepsea ro-ro solution “no longer compensates for the lack of shore cranes” but instead “has become a valuable add-on, a speciality to allow (what is basically) a multipurpose ship to carry cargoes that would not be suitable for handling by on-board or quay cranes.”
           
“This will ultimately impact vessel design and Dynamar expects that the non-geared PCTC (Pure Car and Truck Carrier) will eventually take over from the “classic” conventional ro-ro ship. WWO’s Mark IV & V ro-ro vessels, each with the look of a PCTC, are an example of this development,” Neering said.

Based in Alkmaar in the Netherlands, Dynamar provides maritime intelligence, investigation and vessel-tracking worldwide as well as a range of consultancy products, including market and competition analyses.

“The breakbulk, project and heavy-lift markets is multifaceted. Our biennual reviews reveal that there are many niches in the this industry, each served by specific, specialist carriers [but] the breakbulk heydays of the mid 2000s remain a distant memory, for now … ” Neering said.
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