ABS: Cost Efficiency Key for Newbuilds

The current shipping prices have been posing significant challenges for the North European market which have been felt in various maritime sectors, including shipbuilding and classification of ships.

In a world striving for ever bigger and ever more complex ships, cost efficiency presents itself as the key.

“We have to work very closely with the clients to make sure the operation of the ship is as effective as possible, since nobody has extra money to spend these days,” Wolfgang Buttgereit, ABS Regional Vice President for Northern Europe told World Maritime News staff at the SMM.

“At present, when the charter markets are not as lucrative as they were, everybody is looking to save wherever they can,” Buttgereit said.

Going along those lines Buttgereit added that this particularly relates to fuel efficiency, with LNG being the obvious choice. According to Buttgereit, if an owner has the sufficient equity to build a ship a key factor to bear in mind will be fuel-efficiency.

ABS has secured 24 % in global classification services orderbook, according to the latest data, 24% being for bulk carriers, 28% tankers, 13% containerships, 28% gas carriers, and a considerable portion of the offshore market (75%).

In respect to most recent projects, the highlights include:

• LNG-powered containerships for Nordic Hamburg;
• The first small LNG-powered containerships built for operations within the Baltic and North Sea SECA zones;
• Two innovative gas carrier projects, including a dual-fuel ethane/ethylene carrier for a leading European owner, and an order of six ethane/ethylene carriers to be built for a leading Asian shipowner.

In February 2013, ABS relocated its Northern European regional marine operations office from London to Hamburg, Germany, to increase its exposure to the German market.