SHIPPING AND MARITIME TRANSPORT 2012-2013 - ANAVE June 2012 | Page 4

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uring last year 2012, world economy grew by 3.2%, but with severe imbalances: while China grew by 7.8%, advanced economies reached only 1.2%, with an increase of 2.2% in the USA and a decline of 0.6% in the Euro zone. As a result, trade of manufactured goods from China to Europe suffered considerably. In addition, although a record overall figure of 9.468 million tons were transported by sea, with an increase of 4.0% over the previous year, fleet transport capacity increased by 4.1% due to the high levels of newbuilding deliveries, broadening a bit more the already substantial imbalance between transport supply and demand, so that the development in most of the freight markets was clearly negative. Moreover, in the case of the bulk carriers, freight rates, which already started the year at very poor values, dropped to historically low levels and, generally, below operating costs. In parallel, the average annual price of crude oil remained at almost the same level as the maximum year average, achieved so far in 2011. Therefore, the main fundamentals of maritime markets in 2012 was almost repeated to last year: weak demand growth, high levels of deliveries and increasing oversupply, very low freight rates, and yet downwards, as well as fuel prices at historical highs. As a result, new ships orders fell by 30% and scrapping levels reached record figures. In Spain, although GDP fell by 1.4%, maritime trade (imports + exports + cabotage) increased by 4.2% to 315.4 million tons, still 9% below the peak reached in 2007. This increase was mainly due to the very significant increase of exports (+17.2%) to 87.2 Mt, while imports stagnated at a value similar to that of 2011 (+0.4%) to 189.3 Mt. After several years when piracy in Somalia/Gulf of Aden remained as one of the top concerns for the international shipping industry, at last, in 2012, pirate attacks in that area fell by 69% (from 197 in 2011 to 62 in 2012). Moreover, May 2013 marked a full year since the last kidnapping in Somali waters. These very positive data are the result of increasingly effective protection by the naval forces in the area and the widespread enrolment of private armed guards, a practice that in the last year has been expressly authorized by many countries. Unfortunately, in other areas such as West Africa, pirate attacks increased significantly last year, which has led the centre of the Naval Action of the Spanish Navy in Cartagena to establishing a permanent monitoring of vessels with Spanish flag or interests operating in the area. There were no major developments in the IMO regulations during the past year, apart from the entry into force of the Manila amendments to the STCW Convention and the Energy Efficiency

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FOREWORD by the

Mr. Adolfo Utor
President of ANAVE

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