Spending in marine propulsion sector to reach new records

An industry source forecast that this year the world shipbuilding industry is likely to spend $5.3 billion on marine propulsion systems and this is set to rise. Over the period 2004 to 2008, $27.2 billion is likely to be spent compared with $22.4 billion over the previous five-year period, an increase of 21%. These are among the findings of the latest edition of ?The World Marine Propulsion Report 2004-2008?, published by analysts Douglas-Westwood using vessel data from Lloyd?s Register – Fairplay.

The shipbuilding industry is currently enjoying a strong surge in orders as a result of a buoyant world economic growth which is expected to remain strong in the medium term boosted mainly by the very strong growth of the Chinese economy. With full orders books, many shipyards expect record years ahead with output exceeding 40 million gross tonnes in 2005 and 2006 with compensated gross tonnage output in 2006 of 26 million. The total value of shipbuilding output is expected to peak at around $45 billion in each of these two years with deliveries of 1,864 vessels and over 2,850 main engine installations.