The world tanker fleet is growing and so is the tanker orderbook.
International Association of Independent Tanker Owners (Intertanko) figures show that on Feb. 1 there were 3,273 tankers and combined carriers with a total 279.25 million dwt in the world fleet. That's up from Jan. 1, 1989, when the fleet stood at 3,206 vessels of 271.35 million dwt.
Orders for new tankers are still being placed despite uncertainties over possible U.S. legislation on double hulled and double bottomed vessels that could limit their voyages to other parts of the globe.
Intertanko figures show 279 tankers and combined carriers on order as of Feb. 1, compared with 255 Jan. 1, 1990, and 194 Jan. 1, 1989.
Separately, Lloyds Register of Shipping showed 11.9 million gross tons of tankers on order worldwide at yearend 1989, up 28% during the year. Lloyds Register calculates new tonnage in gross tons, a measure of a ship's unladen volume, while Intertanko uses deadweight tons, the fully laden weight of the vessel.
RECENT ORDERS
In recent action, AP Moller, Copenhagen, placed an order for five 280,000 dwt crude carriers with its local shipbuilding subsidiary, Odense Staalskibsvaerft, for delivery in 1992 and 1993. The last very large crude carrier (VLCC) completed at the yard was delivered in 1977.
Iran's state owned tanker company ordered four VLCCs from Daewoo Shipbuilding & Heavy Machinery Ltd., Kyungnam, South Korea, in a deal worth $330 million. The contract was disclosed after the third meeting of the Korea-Iran Joint Economic Commission in Tehran. The Scandinavian shipping concerns Rasmussen Group, Kristiansand, Norway, and a group led by AB Nynas Petroleum, Stockholm, Sweden, ordered three 150,000 dwt tankers, two from Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding Co. Ltd., Tokyo, and one from Daewoo.
The three tankers will be built with double bottoms and satisfy other technical requirements of voluntary "Environmental Class" notations recently issued by Det Norske Veritas, Hovik, Norway.
The other features include underpressure or vacuum in the tanks and new pump arrangements.
The three tankers will be of the largest size capable of transiting the Suez Canal.
LLOYDS FIGURES
Lloyds Register said tankers now account for 38% of world shipbuilding orders, which at the end of last year stood at 31 million gross tons, an increase of 26% from 12 months earlier.
Lloyds shipbuilding returns showed fourth quarter 1989 tanker orders up 6% from second quarter 1989 orders.
Japan topped the shipbuilding league. Its orderbook is 10.3 million gross tons, up by 4.3 million gross tons from the previous year. Tankers accounted for 4.7 million gross tons of the current orderbook.
The two biggest ships delivered in fourth quarter 1989 were the 280,000 dwt tankers Golar Klementine and Golar Cordelia, built in South Korea. South Korea has the second largest orderbook at 6 million gross tons.
The biggest increase in the tanker fleet, according to Intertanko figures, is in the class larger than 200,000 dwt, in which the number of vessels increased from 418 with a combined 115.04 million dwt to 434 vessels with 119.11 million dwt.
Tanker and combined tonnage in layup also increased. Figures from Intertanko showed 26 vessels (3.3 million dwt) laid up Feb. 1, 1990, compared with 32 vessels (3.01 million dwt) Jan. 1, 1989.
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