A historic moment! China surpasses Greece to become the world's largest shipowner. China | Shipowner | Greece
According to the latest data from Clarkson's research, in terms of total tonnage, China has officially surpassed Greece, which has long dominated the list, to become the world's largest shipowner.
For a long time, Greece, with numerous well-known ship kings and shipowner companies, has been the world's largest shipowner country. According to the latest data from Clarkson's research, in terms of total tonnage, China has now surpassed Greece by a slight margin to become the world's largest shipowner.
At the beginning of the 21st century, Japan was the largest shipowner country by gross tonnage, and then Greece surpassed Japan to rank first in 2013. In 2018, China also surpassed Japan and began its pursuit of Greece.
The data company stated that since 2015, the fleet size owned by Chinese shipowners has grown strongly, especially the growth of dry bulk carriers and container fleets.
According to Stephen Gordon, an analyst at Clarkson Research, the increase in China's fleet size is not surprising due to its strong freight scale, strong shipbuilding industry, and increasingly active financial industry.
According to Clarkson's data, as of now, the fleet size held by Chinese shipowners has reached 249.2 million tons, with a market share of 15.9%, slightly higher than the 249 million GT held by Greek shipowners, with a market share of 15.8%. Japan ranks third with 181 million GT, followed by South Korea and the United States with approximately 66 million GT.
It is worth mentioning that although China has already taken the lead in total tonnage, Greece still holds the largest share from the perspective of deadweight tonnage. In addition, Greek shipowners also dominate in fields such as oil tankers and LNG carriers.
As mentioned above, the leading fleet size of Chinese shipowners is mainly due to the growth of dry bulk and container fleets. According to Clarkson data, the GT proportion of dry bulk cargo fleets by Chinese shipowners is 24%, while the GT proportion of container fleets is 16%.
The two largest shipowners in China are undoubtedly COSCO Shipping Group and China Merchants Group. Next are Bank of Communications Financial Leasing, Bank of China Financial Leasing, and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Financial Leasing, which have banking and financial backgrounds.
The largest shipowner companies in Greece are Angelicousis, Dynacom, Cardiff, Navios, Star Bulk, Costamare, Alpha, Thenamaris, Capital, Minerva, Tsakos, etc.
Stephen Gordon explained, "Due to the aforementioned advantages in freight scale, shipbuilding, and finance, Chinese shipowners are very active in the new shipbuilding market. Currently, the order volume held by Chinese shipowners is almost twice that of Greek shipowners. In addition, Chinese shipowners are also very active in buying and selling second-hand ships."
Stephen Gordon also introduced that, if viewed by region, the fleet size held by Asian shipowners had already exceeded that held by European shipowners in 2019, and the gap was widening. As shown in the above chart.
This seems to indicate from another perspective that the center of gravity of world shipping is indeed shifting.
However, Gordon also stated that in the coming years, this trend may be influenced by increasingly complex changes in trade and technology choices surrounding decarbonization.
In other words, with the entry into force and implementation of new technologies and regulations, the distribution pattern of the world fleet in the future may also be greatly affected.
As introduced by Xinde Maritime Network in the article "Approaching International Maritime Emission Reduction Regulations, How to Prepare for China's Shipping Industry", for example, in order to achieve net zero emissions around 2050, the IMO may make significant adjustments to existing rules and regulations such as EEXI, EEDI, and CII, accelerate the elimination of old and high energy consuming ships, and accelerate the application of new energy and clean energy in the shipping industry. Meanwhile, the IMO is considering issuing multiple resolutions to accelerate the pace of emissions reduction through technological and economic measures.
Another noteworthy point is that although Chinese shipowners currently rank first in market share, accounting for 15.9%, this number is still relatively low compared to China's trade strength, and Chinese shipowners need to work harder.
