Greek shipbuilders against Japanese and Chinese competitors

Greek, Japanese and Chinese shipbuilders compete in shipbuilding worldwide. Particularly in the last 12 months, the rivalry between Greek and Japanese shipowners has been intense in certain types of ships. According to a report by the Allied shipping group, the Greek shipowners placed orders for the construction of 36 bulk carriers, while the Japanese for the construction of 35.

The interest is also directed towards liquid gas ships. According to Allied, within the last 12 months, Japanese shipowners placed orders for 28 gas carriers compared to 23 for Greeks.

Regarding ship type, there are currently 47 tankers for Greek shipowners, three chemical and product tankers, 63 liquefied gas tankers, 30 ore and bulk carriers, 53 container ships and three cargo ships on order.

Greek shipping companies represent 24.41% of the global tanker fleet, 15.80% of the ore and bulk carrier fleet, and 10.49% of the LNG fleet.

The Greek-owned fleet amounts to 6.7% of the world fleet in terms of number of ships, 13.1% in terms of GT and 15.3% in terms of DWT.

Due to the volatile situation in Ukraine – Russia and related challenges and opportunities, as well as upcoming regulatory requirements, while market conditions remained volatile, there were slight increases and decreases in most of the categories of the Greek-owned fleet.

In particular, there was an increase in the Greek fleet, reported New Money, as a percentage of the world fleet in the categories of ore and bulk carriers and cargo ships.

Except chemical and product tankers, ore and bulk carriers, container ships and cargo ships, which increased slightly in terms of DWT, the remaining categories recorded a slight decrease or remained unchanged in terms of number of vessels or DWT relative to the corresponding global fleet type for the year 2022.

Minas Tsamopoulos is a lawyer and editor of New Money.

READ MORE: Greek State Budget Shows Remarkable Improvement in First Half of 2023.