Buyers Postpone 20 Percent of Box Ship Orders

December 13, 2009

Source:JOC

Average delay is eight months, some much longer in BIMCO study The delivery of one out of every five containerships due for delivery during the last three months was postponed, said the Baltic and International Maritime Council, a shipping association based in Denmark.

Industry talk about ship orders being cancelled, delayed or postponed is beginning to show in the order book, according to the BIMCO analysis of the 5,705 ship orders or 75 percent of all ships on order that are identifiable by hull numbers.

Zim Integrated Shipping Services ranks as the liner company at the top of the postponement list. Zim postponed delivery by almost six years of a mega container carrier of 10,070 20-foot equivalent units capacity from the established Hyundai Samho shipyard in South Korea. The vessel, which was contracted back in 2007, was due for delivery in September this year but is now scheduled for delivery in 2015.

BIMCO found a dry bulk carrier is postponed by eight months on average, while a tanker is postponed seven months. The ships are usually set to be delivered anywhere between one month and two and a half years later than originally agreed between the owner and the shipyard.

BIMCO is an independent international shipping association, with a membership composed of ship owners, managers, brokers, agents and many other stakeholders with vested interests in the shipping