Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Singapore Shipping Report Q3 2010" report to their offering. Singapore Shipping Report provides industry professionals and strategists, corporate analysts, shipping associations, government departments and regulatory bodies with independent forecasts and competitive intelligence on Singapore's shipping industry.
The glut of ships on the world market is not over yet, but with world trade recovering from last year's slump, some fleet modernisation is going ahead. Singapore's Neptune Orient Lines (NOL) seems to be confident enough on this front. At the end of March the firm's chief executive, Ron Widdows, said that through its subsidiary APL it would charter up to 10 6,000 20-foot equivalent unit (TEU) ships this year to meet rising demand. It would also bring 10 laid-up ships back into service. The company said it was setting up a new subsidiary, Triton Shipping, as a vehicle to arrange funding for two new 10,000TEU container ships due for delivery.
The economic environment for Singapore-based port and shipping companies is very encouraging at present. Singapore is in the middle of a strong trade-led recovery, with the economy expected to expand by 7% this year, compared with the 2.0% contraction last year. Both exports and imports are rising strongly, and as world trade grows, so too does the transhipment business, which is of great importance to local industry. Political risk is low, and the government's fiscal position is strong. On the other hand, BMI expects a moderate slowdown in the Chinese and US economies in 2011, with Singapore's GDP expansion rate slowing to 4.3%. In short, the medium-term macro outlook is for the economy to peg back from strong to moderate growth.
The Port of Singapore (POS) is seeing strong cargo growth. This year, as world trade recovers, we see tonnage rising by 7.9% to 509.71mn tonnes. Growth in 2011 will be at a more moderate rate of 4.4%. POS should also remain the world's largest container port, with box traffic, which slumped by 13.5% last year, recovering by 7.6% in 2010 27.831mn TEUs. Expansion in 2011 will be 5.3%. The medium-term outlook both for general and container cargo is for moderate growth in the 3-5% per annum range. Singapore's total trade will expand by 11.4% this year, following an 11.6% contraction in 2009. We expect Singapore to settle down to rather more moderate trade growth in the coming years. Average annual trade growth in the next five years will be 6.5%, a little ahead of GDP. In nominal terms, exports will surge by 21.2% this year to US$435.5bn, while imports will be fractionally slower, gaining 21.0% to US$391bn.
On the whole, risks to our Singapore shipping forecasts are evenly balanced, perhaps pointing slightly to the downside. The main risk in this sense is that world trade could experience a steeper than expected slowdown in 2011, perhaps propelled by further financial difficulties in Europe or elsewhere - indeed, any sudden event that might undermine still-fragile investor confidence.
The glut of ships on the world market is not over yet, but with world trade recovering from last year's slump, some fleet modernisation is going ahead. Singapore's Neptune Orient Lines (NOL) seems to be confident enough on this front. At the end of March the firm's chief executive, Ron Widdows, said that through its subsidiary APL it would charter up to 10 6,000 20-foot equivalent unit (TEU) ships this year to meet rising demand. It would also bring 10 laid-up ships back into service. The company said it was setting up a new subsidiary, Triton Shipping, as a vehicle to arrange funding for two new 10,000TEU container ships due for delivery.
The economic environment for Singapore-based port and shipping companies is very encouraging at present. Singapore is in the middle of a strong trade-led recovery, with the economy expected to expand by 7% this year, compared with the 2.0% contraction last year. Both exports and imports are rising strongly, and as world trade grows, so too does the transhipment business, which is of great importance to local industry. Political risk is low, and the government's fiscal position is strong. On the other hand, BMI expects a moderate slowdown in the Chinese and US economies in 2011, with Singapore's GDP expansion rate slowing to 4.3%. In short, the medium-term macro outlook is for the economy to peg back from strong to moderate growth.
The Port of Singapore (POS) is seeing strong cargo growth. This year, as world trade recovers, we see tonnage rising by 7.9% to 509.71mn tonnes. Growth in 2011 will be at a more moderate rate of 4.4%. POS should also remain the world's largest container port, with box traffic, which slumped by 13.5% last year, recovering by 7.6% in 2010 27.831mn TEUs. Expansion in 2011 will be 5.3%. The medium-term outlook both for general and container cargo is for moderate growth in the 3-5% per annum range. Singapore's total trade will expand by 11.4% this year, following an 11.6% contraction in 2009. We expect Singapore to settle down to rather more moderate trade growth in the coming years. Average annual trade growth in the next five years will be 6.5%, a little ahead of GDP. In nominal terms, exports will surge by 21.2% this year to US$435.5bn, while imports will be fractionally slower, gaining 21.0% to US$391bn.
On the whole, risks to our Singapore shipping forecasts are evenly balanced, perhaps pointing slightly to the downside. The main risk in this sense is that world trade could experience a steeper than expected slowdown in 2011, perhaps propelled by further financial difficulties in Europe or elsewhere - indeed, any sudden event that might undermine still-fragile investor confidence.