For the first time in history! Asian owners have larger fleets than Europe

Clarkson's latest data shows that for the first time, the size of the fleet held by Asian shipowners has surpassed that of European shipowners. A recent Clarkson Research report shows that by the end of 2021, Asian shipowners will have captured 43% of the world's fleet capacity by gross tonnage (48,472 vessels, 637 million gt), surpassing the 42% market share of fleet capacity held by European shipowners (30,610 vessels, 630 million gt). The main factor for the reversal of the East-West fleet capacity ratio is the significant growth in fleet capacity achieved by Chinese shipowners in recent years. According to Clarkson, in the past decade, the total ship capacity held by Chinese shipowners has doubled from 111 million GT to 226 million GT, while China has now become the second largest shipowner in the world with a 15% share of capacity. The rise in capacity of the fleet held by Chinese shipowners is mainly achieved through newbuilding, of which the rapid development of China's financial leasing business is one of the main reasons. Japanese shipowners' capacity growth is relatively slow, with a 16% increase in value to 1.77 GT over the same period, and a current global share of 12%. In addition, the capacity held by other Asian shipowners has also risen sharply, with the world share now reaching 16%. For its part, Clarksons Platou said that such a change in the situation is actually not surprising. "For a long time, shipping market observers believe that the fleet capacity controlled by Asian shipowners will all soon exceed that of European shipowners, just as the shipbuilding industry has shifted from Europe to the East." In addition, Asia's market share in global trade is also growing, which has driven a lot of new shipbuilding investment in many Asian countries, eventually making the fleet share of capacity rose sharply is also a matter of course. It is worth noting that despite the fact that countries in the Asian region have experienced some of the most stringent epidemic prevention and control restrictions in the last two years, with borders effectively closed for two years, Asian fleet growth remained very strong during the pandemic. Take the example of the consolidation industry. After a brief downturn following the outbreak, the consolidation market rebounded rapidly from the second half of 2020. The supply chain congestion caused by the epidemic has created an urgent need for a large number of container ships, and during this period Asian consolidators ordered 236 ships with a total capacity of 1.81 million TEU. and there is no sign of a slowdown in the rate of newbuilding orders. In Europe, Greek shipowners have become the rightful "pillar" of the fleet, with a 70% increase in capacity to 246 million gt in the last 10 years, with a 17% global share. Greece is still the world's largest shipowner. Both newbuilding and purchasing second-hand vessels are important means for Greek shipowners to expand their capacity. In addition to Greece, other countries in Europe, the fleet growth is relatively weak, or even a regression. In Germany, for example, the sum of capacity held by German shipowners fell by 34% to 62 million gt in the same period. Clarkson side also said that such a trend will continue to develop. It is worth mentioning that the sum of capacity of newbuilding orders by Chinese owners reached 29 million gt, accounting for 18% of the world share. In contrast, the capacity of newbuilding orders of European shipowners is currently only 53 million gt, with a share of only 33%.