By Antonis Tsimplakis

 

 

The order book of Greek interests in Asian shipyards is constantly expanding. In the last ten days, brokers from Greece and abroad have recorded 16 new orders from five Greek-owned companies, worth 1.6 billion dollars. According to a report by Naftiliaki, 72 Greek shipping companies had confirmed by October that they have ongoing investment programs for 552 ships.

 

In particular, Maran Gas of the Angelikoussis Group proceeded with an order for two plus two option LNG carriers, worth a total of 1.02 billion dollars.

 

The ships will be built at the Hanwha Ocean shipyards, formerly Daewoo Shipbuilding, in South Korea.

 

Maria Angelikoussis, head of the largest Greek shipping group, seems to be proceeding with large investments at the end of the year. A few days before the signing of the deal for the LNG carriers, the acquisition of Altera Shuttle Tankers was announced, for 2 billion dollars.

 

The company has a fleet of 18 shuttle tankers, which can "load" oil from floating platforms.

 

The fleet of Maria Angelicoussis' group (Maran Gas, Maran Tankers, Maran Dry) includes 144 ships: 42 are bulk carriers, 54 are tankers and 48 are LNG carriers.

 

At the same time, the group still has 23 ships on order. The value of the group's assets reaches 16.8 billion dollars.

 

The shipping group of George Prokopiou also placed new orders, which in recent years, from 2021 onwards, has been "running" the largest shipbuilding program in the country, which is estimated by shipping brokerage sources to exceed 6 billion dollars.

 

The group consists of three companies (Dynacom, Dynagas and Sea Traders) and has over 120 ships on the water (LNG carriers, tankers of all types and sizes, bulk carriers, as well as containerships). At the same time, a shipbuilding program for more than 80 ships is also underway.

 

According to Naftiliaki's data, the group's confirmed orders at the end of September amounted to 72 ships (tankers, bulk carriers and LNG carriers), with a total carrying capacity of 8.45 million dwt.

 

 

At the same time, the port of Piraeus continues to receive pressure, but not on domestic transit, as container ships are diverted around the Cape of Good Hope due to turmoil in the Red Sea.

 

In the country's largest port, specifically in Pier I managed by the PPA, a total of 465,000 TEUs were handled in the first 10 months, up 6%, compared to last year.

 

According to data from Cosco Shipping Port, 391,000 containers were handled from piers II and III in October 2024 compared to 402,000 in the same month of 2023, recording a decrease of 2.7%.

 

Between January and October 2024, container handling from piers II and III dropped by 9% compared to the corresponding period in 2023.

 

In total, 3.498 million TEUs were handled in the first 10 months of 2024 compared to 3.844 million TEUs in the same month last year.

 

The total container traffic in the 36 ports controlled by Cosco Shipping Ports, a member of the Cosco Shipping Group, rose by 3.5% in October 2024 (9.621 million containers compared to 9.294 in the same month of 2023).

 

In the first 10 months of 2024, a total of 92.769 million containers were handled by terminals managed by Cosco, compared to 87.130 million in the same period in 2023, up 6.5%.

 

Regarding handling in China, terminals in the Yangtze River Delta and southwest coast regions performed particularly well, with container handling at the Chinese ports of Nantong, Wuhan and Beibu Gulf Port up 44.7%, 133.9% and 12.3% respectively.

 

Overseas terminals also continued to show strong signs of growth and recovery, with their handling increasing by 8.3%.

 

Among them, the terminals of Abu Dhabi, Cosco Shipping Port Spain and Zeebrugge performed very well, with their container throughput increasing by 89.8%, 27.4% and 220.9% respectively.