Resurgent tanker orders have boosted energy vessel contracting to its highest level since 2006, according to Clarksons Research.
The 594 oil and gas carriers ordered so far also make this the second-biggest year on record for these ships.
Researcher Oran Creedon said container shipping has grabbed the headlines with a strong flow of newbuilding contracting, with more than 3m teu ordered in the past six months.
“However, newbuild ordering in the energy shipping sectors has also been hot, with tonnage investment rising to an 18-year high this year,” he added.
Orders for crude and product tankers, LPG ships and LNG carriers have reached 37.2m gt in 2024.
The 2006 record of 55.1m gt remains some way off, though.
Total newbuilding investment in these sectors has risen for a fourth consecutive year, Creedon pointed out.
Energy shipping is now making up a greater share of contracts, accounting for 37% of volumes in 2024.
The average in 2021 and 2022 was 26%.
“Strong investment in gas shipping has been a key newbuilding market theme during recent years and 2024 has seen further firm ordering,” the researcher said.
“In particular, newbuild activity has been very strong in the LPG carrier sector, with a record 132 units of 5.1m gt ordered so far this year.”
The total includes orders for 42 very large ammonia carriers of 2.1m gt.
The biggest ethane ships yet
Meanwhile, a strong US-Asia ethane project pipeline has driven a healthy flow of very large ethane carriers ordering. Twenty vessels have been contracted in 2024, including the first ultra-large ethane carriers of more than 150,000 cbm, Creedon said.
Firm LNG carrier newbuilding investment has also continued, with 83 units of 9.8m gt ordered.
This is still way below the record 19.9m gt contracted in 2022, however.
“While orders tied to US export projects have slowed in 2024, the Qatari newbuild programme has continued, with 51 units ordered this year,” Creedon said.
Tankers, meanwhile, have reached a total of 379 ships ordered, a nine-year high.
VLCCs have finally come to the party in substantial numbers: 53 vessels were added, the most since 2017.
Crude tanker ordering stands at 13.5m gt, up from the low of 1.8m gt in 2022.
“Meanwhile, strong MR and LR2 activity has seen total product tanker contracting rise to 8.8m gt in 2024, the highest annual run-rate since 2013,” Creedon added.
Chemical tanker ordering was also described as “hot”, driven by Chinese owners in particular.
A total of 193 ships have been contracted this year, a 17-year high.
