Vessel operating costs to rise 3% in 2012, 2013
Vessel operating costs will rise by 3 percent in both 2012 and 2013, according to a new Moore Stephens survey, with lube expenditure and crew costs seeing the biggest increases, Ship & Bunker reports.
"Ship operating costs increased by an average of 2.1% across all the main ship types in 2011, and it is unsurprising that our latest survey anticipates that costs will rise by a greater margin in both 2012 and 2013," said Moore Stephens shipping partner Richard Greiner.
"Although they will be difficult for owners, operators and managers to absorb in a struggling economic environment and a depressed freight market, these increases still represent a continuation of less volatile cost movements than those we saw just a few years ago."
Moore Stephens' account of cost changes in 2011 found increases after declines in some areas in 2009 and 2010, but it said they were less dramatic than a few years ago.
The survey of international shipping players, largely ship owners and managers in Europe and Asia, found lubricants are the category likely to increase the most, expecting to gain 2.9 percent in 2012 and 2.8 percent in 2013 as crude oil prices harden and suppliers take advantage of the oversupply of tonnage on the market.
"There is ongoing pressure to reduce operating costs by means of improving vessel fuel efficiency, and in practice there might be a gap between expectations and what can be achieved as fuel and lube costs are likely to increase at a steady pace," one respondent said.
The survey predicted growth in crew wages of 2.3 percent in 2012 and 2.4 percent in 2013, with other crew costs rising 2.1 percent each year.
Survey respondents cited a high volume of new vessel deliveries, short contracts, and a shortage of qualified crews as factors in the rising labor costs.
"Crews from countries that offer lower wages will play a very important role in the cost of operating vessels," one respondent said.
"With low freight earnings, owners will try to save on crew wages."
