Athens, Greece-based Xclusiv Shipbrokers has broken down what the new Indian rules on ship ages (IMN, January 25th) will mean in practice, and have concluded that they will probably have only a tiny effect on the global merchant fleet.
The new proposed rules will mean that no bulk carrier, tanker or general cargo ship aged 25 years or more will be allowed to call at Indian ports. For gas carriers, offshore vessels and boxships the limit has been set at the higher age of 30 years. Locally flagged ships will be deregistered when they reach the new limits. Owners also will not be able to flag locally any secondhand acquisitions that are 20 years old or more.
Xclusiv said that India was responsible for 17% of the world seaborne iron ore trade, 19% of the world’s seaborne coal trade and 2% of the world’s seaborne grain trade.
The country is also responsible for 12% of the world’s seaborne crude oil trade and 7% of the world’s seaborne oil product trade.
But only about 7% of the global bulker fleet and almost 4% of the tanker fleet was more than 21 years old, according to Xclusiv, while just 3% of boxships trading today were older 30 years of age or more.
In the gas carrier sector, India’s LNG imports account for 5% of the world seaborne LNG trade, while India’s LPG imports are 15% of the world seaborne LPG trade. Xclusiv Shipbrokers said that, although almost 11% of gas carrier fleet was more than 29 years old, the really high orderbook (about 20% of the fleet) suggested that this market would not be affected to any great degree by India’s new policy.