Shipping lines are commissioning larger bulk carriers, but only by a small margin compared to the growth in size of container vessels over the past 10 years.According to the latest vessel statistics published by the United Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad), the gross deadweight tonnage (DWT) of the world’s bulk carriers has risen by 27.10% over the past decade, while the number of vessels has increased by 23.8%.Capacity grew by 3.3% more than the number of vessels. Valemax-class ships with a capacity ranging from 380 000 to 400 000 tons DWT are currently the largest bulk carriers. They are also the longest vessels of any type in service, according to Zeymarine Ship Agencies & Services.In contrast, the DWT of container vessels increased by 29.68% and the number of vessels by 9.13%, which is due to the increased size of container vessels – a 20.55% difference.With a capacity of 23 992 containers, the Ever Ace is currently the world’s largest container vessel. There was a drop in the capacity of general cargo vessels – down 0.79% in DWT and -1.54% in terms of the number of vessels.Oil tanker capacity was up 24.66%, and the number of vessels by 21.31%, which also indicates they have reached their maximum size.Southern Africa has a total of 122 f lagged vessels, up from 77 in 2013.Of these, seven are oil tankers, three bulk carriers and two general cargo vessels.The remaining 110 are classed as “other types of ships”.Africa, as a whole, has 12 714 vessels (9 688 in 2013), made up of 1 458 oil tankers, 1 749 bulk carriers, 1 246 general cargo, 1 011 container vessels and 2 976 “other”
