SHIPPING AND MARITIME TRANSPORT 2012-2013 - ANAVE June 2012 | Page 13

carriers (15.4 years) and ro-ro ships (15.6 years). Above the average age of the world merchant fleet were product tankers (20.8 years), general cargo ships (22.4 years), cruises (22.6 years), reefers (24.7 years) and ships (25.2 years). One year more, Panama remains as the flag with more registered tonnage, with 214.4 million GT, 1.8% more than in 1 January 2011 and a market share of 20.9% of the world fleet. Liberia, with 122.8 million GT (+3.9%) and 12.0% of the global GT, ranks second, followed by Marshall Islands 81.8 million GT (+12.5% and 8.0% of world GT). Both Hong Kong and Singapore registered fleet grew notably (+11.5% to 78.2 million GT and +12.6% to 58.9 million GT, respectively) occupying the fourth and fifth place in the world rank. More than half of the GT registered in Panama corresponds to bulk carriers (30.9% of the world fleet of such vessels), 16.1% to container ships and 14.0% to oil tankers. In Liberia, 32.9% of the GT are container ships, 28.8% oil tankers and 27.6% bulk carriers. In the Marshall Islands, 38.8% of GT correspond to bulk carriers and 31.7% to oil tankers and finally in Hong Kong, 55.3% of the registered GT are bulk

carriers and containerships account for 19.6%. Bahamas registers 32.5% (in terms of GT) of the world cruise ships fleet. Malta is the first European Union flag, occupying the seventh position in the world rank, with 43.9 million GT (-2.0%), followed by Greece with 41.1 million GT (-0.3%). The third EU flag (tenth in the world rank) is occupied by the UK, with 32.5 million GT (3.7%), followed by Cyprus with GT 19.5 million (-5.0%). EU (27) countries flag a total of 206.0 million GT (-2.5%), accounting for 20.1% of global GT. During 2012, apart from the United Kingdom, Poland (+1.3%), Luxembourg (+2.6%), Finland (+16.2%), Portugal (+18.2%) and Romania (+18.4%) recorded growth in their fleet. Meanwhile Italy (-0.9%), Spain (-1.3%), the Netherlands (-2.1%) and to a greater extent, Belgium (-13.5%), Germany (-13.6 %), Sweden (-15.7%) and France (-17.3%) flagged fleets decreased. According to ISL Bremen, the fleet figures according to the nationality of the owner is, once again, led by Greece, with 260.4 million dwt (17.0% of the global shipping capacity) and a remarkable increase of 19.9% over the previous year, operating 72.4% of its fleet under foreign flags. Japan stood second, with 229.9 million dwt (+9.6%) and 92.7%

WORLD MERCHANT FLEET BY SHIP TYPES
1980 NS
Oil & product tankers Gas tankers Bulk carriers General cargo Containerships Other merchant (1) TOTAL MERCHANT Other non merchant TOTAL 7.5 0.6 4.3 22.7 0.7 6.2 42.0 31.7 73.7

1985 NS
7.1 0.8 5.0 21.7 1.0 7.6 43.2 33.2 76.4

1990 NS
6.9 0.8 4.