Things should start to look up for the currently heavily beleaguered shipbuilding industry from 2018, according to Clarkson Research Services.
Since the start of the global and trade crisis in 2008 the shipbuilding industry has taken a hard knock, with one of the major companies involved deciding to significantly reduce its interests, and one to pull out totally.
Compared to a previous 20-year median of 2 200 vessels a year, recent numbers have been feeble. So far in 2016, only 586 ships have been ordered, with a slightly better figure of 790 predicted for 2017.
But the Clarkson report forecasts that there will be a significantly healthier 1 300 ships ordered globally in 2018, with further analysis seeing steady growth for the industry thereafter.
