Shipowners in order frenzy

According to London-based Clarkson, shipowners ordered new vessels worth a record $105.5 billion in 2006. The trend has been spurred by tanker owners keen to upgrade their fleets ahead of IMO single-hull tanker deadlines that kick in at the end of the decade.

In its monthly World Shipyard Monitor, the broker said tanker owners increased their spending by as much as 122% to $49.2 billion last year, giving a massive boost to the fortunes of shipbuilders. Furthermore, overall spending surged by 37% from 2005 levels and surpassed a previous record of $76.3 billion that owners spent in 2004. The largest increase in spending among tanker owners was on one-million-barrel Suezmax ships which soared more than 10-fold to $5.6 billion, according to Clarkson.