China, Japan and Greece in a league of their own in latest shipowning charts
Which nation has the world’s most valuable commercial fleet? Two of shipping’s best-known data providers cannot agree.
VesselsValue yesterday unveiled its top 10 shipowning nations, reviewing the total asset values for vessels by beneficial owner country. Japan was at the top of the league, its fleet growing in price by 5% over the past four months, followed by China and Greece.
In terms of the number of vessels owned, China is the world’s largest shipowning nation, a point of fact agreed on by both VesselsValue and rival Clarksons Research, whose own World Fleet Monitor published this week has conflicting figures on which nation is at the top when it comes to total values. Clarksons sees Japan in third place, not top, with Greece in silver on the podium and China at the top.
It was in August last year that China surpassed Greece as the world’s largest merchant fleet in gross tonnage (gt) terms, according to data from Clarksons Research.
