The main vessel categories – bulk carriers, tankers, container ships, and liquefied gas carriers – comprise over 90 percent of the entire world merchant ship fleet’s deadweight tonnes carrying capacity. Fleet development is mainly influenced by newbuilding deliveries and scrapping (recycling) volumes, which have varied greatly from year to year and as proportions of the existing fleet, and there have been contrasting patterns among the individual segments. Enlargement rates estimated for this year (to end-December) vary between a minimal 1 percent for tankers and 10 percent for container ships. Bulk carriers and gas carriers could see 3 percent and 7 percent increases respectively. In a notable smaller segment, car carriers, an 8 percent increase may be seen. During 2025 tanker and gas carrier fleet growth may accelerate, while bulk carrier growth remains stable and container ship enlargement slackens. These indications are tentative because, amid apparently fairly reliable estimates of newbuilding deliveries, scrapping is surrounded by greater uncertainty and is much less predictable. A steady trend of annual growth rates in the world merchant ship fleet has evolved over the past few years. Capacity using deadweight tonnes as a common measurement averaged 3.4 percent growth annually in the five years 2019 to 2023. After growing by 4.1 percent in 2019, the growth rate varied between 3.0 and the 3.4 percent seen in 2023. At the end of 2018 the merchant ship fleet totalled 1990 million deadweight tonnes, comprised of 100,500 vessels. During the next five years to end-2023 this total rose by 18 percent to 2348m dwt (109,500 vessels), based on Clarksons Research data. At end-2023 cargo-carrying ships formed 96 percent of the total deadweight (62,500 ships). During 2023 the overall 3.4 percent annual expansion rate resulted from a wide range of outcomes among the main segments. The container ship fleet expanded by 7.7 percent, while the gas carrier fleet (liquefied natural and petroleum gas – LNG and LPG) grew by 6.5 percent. Lower growth rates of 3.1 percent in bulk carriers and 1.9 percent in tankers were recorded. For 2024 estimates are still tentative, albeit assisted by provisional data covering the first ten months. Slightly faster merchant ship fleet growth than seen last year, at around 3.8 percent seems likely. Within this higher figure, a wider range among individual segments is predictable. As already mentioned, tanker fleet growth is likely to recede to 1 percent, while the bulk carrier fleet could grow by a steady 3 percent. By contrast faster expansion than seen last year is expected in the gas carrier and container ship fleets, at 7 percent and 10 percent respectively. These varying growth rates were mainly a result of newbuilding deliveries, reflecting as usual orders placed in preceding years. In typical years scrapping – the second driver of fleet capacity changes – is a large partly offsetting element. But in recent years it has been exceptionally low, and has offset only a minor proportion of new tonnage being introduced. Estimates for 2025 suggest that deadweight capacity growth in the world merchant ship fleet could slacken after advancing in the preceding twelve months. But segmental performances are likely to differ more noticeably, with some accelerating and some decelerating. Calculations reflect known orderbook schedules, enabling actual newbuilding deliveries to be estimated, albeit rather approximately. For scrapping, forecast volumes characteristically are somewhat speculative, dependent on changing market influences which may be different to what is now envisaged, and subject to changing perceptions about the future market trend and sentiment influences. Among the main segments, ideas that currently seem plausible point to 2025 growth rates in a range of 2 percent to 9 percent. Tankers are again at the low end at about 2%, slightly exceeded by bulk carriers at 3 percent. Container ship fleet expansion may halve to about 5 percent, while the gas carrier fleet accelerates to about 9 percent. Continuing the pattern of influences in 2024 and previously, these enlargements mainly reflect expectations for newbuilding deliveries. Based on present signs, although it is possible to envisage that scrapping may begin reviving, it seems that the extent to which higher volumes offset new tonnage will remain limited. The foregoing broad guesses are informed by expectations that newbuilding deliveries in the bulk carrier, tanker, and gas carrier segments will be higher than seen this year, based on shipbuilding yard orderbook schedules with some adjustments to allow for ‘slippage’ and postponements. On a similar basis, container ship deliveries are set to fall. Potential for scrapping, currently minimal, to surge is a prominent feature following several years of relative inactivity. An ageing fleet, and tightening environmental regulations could hasten obsolescence. But clear signs of a return to more ‘normal’ (much higher) demolition volumes are still absent. Looking further ahead the view of merchant fleet evolution in 2026 and later is more opaque. Yet some visibility is afforded by extensive forward orderbooks for specific ship types, extending the period of heavy newbuilding delivery volumes. In 2026 newbuilding deliveries of bulk carriers, tankers and gas carriers are expected to be higher than next year’s volumes, while container ship deliveries could decline but remain relatively large. These volumes may be accompanied by rising recycling activity. Limited availability of shipbuilding berth slots will constrain the scale of additional newbuilding orders for delivery over the period immediately ahead. This constraint is likely to be especially noticeable for the larger sizes of more technically complex vessel types that have been heavily ordered in the past twelve months or longer, such as container ships and LNG carriers. Later, from 2026 onwards, more potential exists for further new orders to emerge. Annual world orders placed provide an insight into prospects for newbuilding deliveries in the years following the ordering activity. High volumes of container ship ordering from 2021 onwards have been boosting deliveries since last year, while extensive LNG carrier orders from 2022 onwards began raising deliveries this year. Increased tanker orders in the past two years are set to start boosting deliveries in 2025. Future fleet evolution is also indicated by data showing the entire global newbuilding orderbook expressed as a proportion of the extant world fleet. At the beginning of November 2024, statistics compiled by Clarksons Research showed that current orders were equivalent to 14 percent of the existing world merchant fleet’s deadweight capacity. This figure is three percentage points higher than it was twelve months ago, emphasising recent robust ordering activity. Most of the orders, 96 percent of the deadweight tonnage, will be built in the three main shipbuilding countries – China, South Korea and Japan. Percentages for individual segments vary widely. At the low end of the range, the bulk carrier global orderbook is equivalent to 10 percent of the existing fleet while in the tanker segment 13 percent is on order. But elsewhere much higher proportions are visible. For container ships the figure is 23 percent, and for gas carriers (LNG and LPG), capacity equal to almost half the existing fleet at 47 percent is on order. What are the characteristics of influences likely to shape the world merchant ship fleet in future years? Both familiar and novel influences will be evident. Traditional influences are the ordering patterns and resulting new ships entering the market, and the exit of old or uneconomic ships for scrapping. Augmenting these long-established drivers is the effect of tightening international maritime regulations, especially those related to cutting carbon emissions, affecting both new and existing ships. Reflecting the shipping market’s unpredictable aspects, ideas about future fleet growth always have been partly speculative, and are now a more complex mixture of perceptions. In some segments regulatory changes unfolding have restrained newbuilding orders compared with what many observers would have expected to result when freight markets were supportive enough. Over the next few years reinforced regulations could greatly increase pressure to scrap older vessels, although currently it is difficult to estimate the timing and extent of this outcome. An order for any type of newbuilding vessel is often based on an assumption of at least a twenty years trading lifespan and, in practice, 25-30 years is often the basis for investments. Amid this view of usable asset life justifying the cost of new tonnage, shipowners now seek assurances about what fuel and ship propulsion method will satisfy regulators (and vessel users) over the ship’s expected lifetime extending up to mid twenty first century. Avoiding premature obsolescence is a critical aspect. Uncertainty about future changes in regulations affecting use of alternative fuels evidently has deterred some orders, and this lack of clarity may persist. Various alternative fuels designed to replace traditional oil bunker fuel and facilitate the decarbonisation of shipping are being considered. But in most cases extensive further research and development is needed to overcome problematical aspects of the new fuels, to ensure that the new technology enables these to be used safely as well as economically. Among options being considered by shipowners, or already adopted in newbuilding orders several alternative fuels are at the forefront. Because of acute uncertainties surrounding some options LNG is proving the most popular and practicable, although it is widely seen as a ‘transition’ fuel since in standard form carbon emissions reduction is restricted. Newbuildings designed to use methanol or LPG also have been ordered, while ammonia has become more prominent even though toxicity is a problem and large engines able to use this fuel are not yet commercially available. Maritime regulations are not the only imponderable aspect surrounding the evolution of the world fleet of merchant ships. Linked to the global objective of reducing and eliminating greenhouse gas emissions is the possible effects on cargo volumes carried. More than one-third of all world seaborne trade consists of oil and coal, fossil fuels which are likely to see sustained downwards pressure (‘demand depletion’) in response to aiming for decarbonisation goals. In the longer term and perhaps starting fairly soon demand for both oil and coal transportation could begin an extended declining trend. This negative prospect overshadows the tanker and bulk carrier markets, creating further uncertainty about required future fleet capacity. Analysis of current newbuilding orderbooks – showing the pattern of timing of vessel completions and delivery to shipowners – provides a provisional indication of prospects for capacity additions and fleet growth in the near-term future. Potential further ordering, or identification of orders already placed but not yet recorded, could modify estimates. However, the impact on delivery totals for the twelve months immediately ahead normally is limited, because of insufficient time for completion of additional construction work even when vacant building slots are available. Orderbook schedules are then adjusted to allow for ‘slippage‘, a consequence of delays, postponements and cancellations, usually a relatively minor modification. Estimates of actual deliveries result. Assessments of future fleet growth also incorporate forecasts of scrapping (recycling), a typically almost unpredictable element that reflects prevailing and changing market psychology and sentiment as much as fleet obsolescence. Forecasts of net fleet growth in 2025 and 2026 – as outlined in the preceding ‘fleet growth ahead’ section – are based on conventional analysis, incorporating the newbuilding delivery schedule and scrapping estimates calculated. Although further newbuilding orders for delivery in those years may be identified or added, potential has already become greatly constrained as orderbooks for the next two years have grown. The order schedule further ahead in 2027 and later appears less constrained, and there have been signs that more shipbuilding capacity is emerging in several countries. Nevertheless orders may remain somewhat restricted by ongoing uncertainty about alternative fuels and technology. Greatly increased shipbuilding prices over the past few years also act as a limiting factor. Freight market changes in individual market segments, and changing perceptions of future trends, will heavily affect future ordering patterns through next year and beyond, and the newbuilding delivery volumes resulting. Such effects are not clearly predictable even if there are broad indications of how the pattern could unfold. Assumptions about changes in ship employment opportunities, markets and earnings for parts of most segments may need continuing modification, perhaps with occasional abrupt revisions. Prospects for scrapping volumes in future years partly reflect assumptions about secondhand vessel values and scrap prices. Recycling sales also are expected to be affected by the evolving regulations governing carbon emissions. While the likely magnitude of decarbonisation regulation is becoming somewhat clearer, it remains difficult to estimate volumes and timing of demolition sales arising as a consequence. The full effects are expected to become more visible over a period of several years ahead. Regulations already agreed at the International Maritime Organization for adoption in the world fleet of merchant ships, the energy efficiency existing ship index (EEXI) and the carbon intensity indicator (CII), were implemented at the beginning of 2023. Following earlier introduction of the energy efficiency design index (EEDI) for newbuilding vessels, the rules extend the greenhouse gas emissions reduction strategy and targets to the entire operational world fleet. A variety of technical or operational changes can be used to ensure EEXI and CII compliance. For some older ships, complying with these rules may prove difficult or costly, or both. It has been envisaged that substantial scrapping is a likely result, but expectations that the process would become established and accelerate rapidly through 2023 and 2024 have not been fulfilled. This possible pattern remains a valid expectation for the years ahead. Looking at world merchant ship fleet growth prospects for the next couple of years, 2025 and 2026, estimates of newbuilding deliveries are the most reliable – albeit still tentative – part of net capacity addition calculations. Currently it seems realistic to envisage only a limited but gradually increasing offset from recycling activity, thereby prolonging the fairly steady fleet growth trend seen in recent years. But slower expansion amid much higher scrapping remains a possibility. Source: Richard Scott, committee member, London & South East Branch, Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers, on behalf of Hellenic Shipping News Worldwide (please contact at if you have any comments or questions)is wild casino legit 。

AL destroyed national unity, economic stabilitySANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — San Francisco quarterback Brock Purdy took part in some light throwing on Monday after missing his first career game because of an injury and the 49ers are hoping he can return this week. Purdy hurt his throwing shoulder during a loss to Seattle on Nov. 17. Purdy underwent two MRIs last week that showed no structural damage. But Purdy he felt discomfort after making a few throws at practice on Thursday and was shut down for the game at Green Bay on Sunday that San Francisco lost 38-10 . Coach Kyle Shanahan said Monday that Purdy made it through the session without pain and will rest on Tuesday and hopefully be able to return to practice on Wednesday as the Niners prepare to play at Buffalo this coming week. “We rested it throughout the weekend hoping that would help,” Shanahan said. “He threw lighter today to see if that rest helps and the rest did help him. So we’ll see again, going through the same things we did last week. We’re going to let him rest all the way up to Wednesday. We’ll see how it feels on Wednesday and then we’ll take the exact same course throughout the week. Hopefully it responds better this week than it did last week with the rest.” Brandon Allen went 17 for 29 for 199 yards with a touchdown, an interception and a lost fumble in his first start since the 2021 season. Allen would play once again if Purdy is unable to go on Sunday at Buffalo. Purdy wasn't the only star player missing for the 49ers on Sunday with defensive end Nick Bosa missing the game with injuries to his left hip and oblique and left tackle Trent Williams out with an ankle injury. “Just waiting to see how they respond,” Shanahan said. “They didn’t respond great last week. That’s why they weren’t able to go. Nick and Trent are both in the same boat. ... We’ll evaluate as this week progresses and hopefully it turns a better corner than it did last week.” In other injury news, linebacker Dre Greenlaw will return to practice this week for the first time since tearing his Achilles tendon in the Super Bowl last season. Greenlaw will likely need at least a couple of weeks of practice before being able to return to play. Offensive lineman Jon Feliciano will be shut down for the rest of the season after his knee injury didn't fully heal. Feliciano's three-week practice window ended Monday and the Niners decided to keep him on injured reserve instead of activating him. Left guard Aaron Banks, defensive tackle Jordan Elliott and receiver Jacob Cowing all remain in concussion protocol to start this week and their status is unknown. Right guard Dominick Puni (shoulder) and cornerback Deommodore Lenoir (knee) underwent MRIs on Monday and the team is waiting for results. Cornerback Renardo Green (neck) and linebacker Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles (knee) are day to day. Defensive tackle Kevin Givens is expected to return to practice this week after missing the past four games with a groin injury. AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

Blinken faces GOP critics in Congress who say Afghanistan withdrawal 'lit the world on fire'

49ers QB Brock Purdy resumes throwing but status for this week remains unknown

Gabriel mimics Gyokeres in cheeky goal celebration in Arsenal win over Sporting in Champions LeagueUnder fire from congressional Republicans about one of the darkest moments of Joe Biden’s presidency, Secretary of State Antony Blinken defended the administration’s handling of the disastrous U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, saying Democrats struggled to make the best of a bad pullout deal struck by Donald Trump. Blinken testified Wednesday before the Republican-led House Foreign Affairs Committee, facing questions and angry criticism from lawmakers for the final time in office. The top U.S. diplomat was expected to leave for the Middle East in the afternoon, but the back-and-forth with members, specifically Republicans who admonished the chaotic withdrawal as his defining legacy, delayed his departure. RELATED STORY | House GOP report blames Biden-Harris for chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan Blinken said much of the blame for the sudden collapse of Afghanistan's U.S.-allied government and the chaotic August 2021 evacuation of Americans that followed rested with a withdrawal deal President Trump had reached with the Taliban in 2020 before leaving office. “To the extent President Biden faced a choice, it was between ending the war or escalating it,” Blinken told lawmakers. “Had he not followed through on his predecessor’s commitment, attacks on our forces and allies would have resumed and the Taliban’s assault on the country’s major cities would have commenced.” But McCaul and other Republican lawmakers portrayed Blinken and the Biden administration as ill-prepared and disengaged as the disaster grew, and intent on minimizing mounting evidence that the Taliban would complete a takeover of the country before the last U.S. troops departed. “This catastrophic event was the beginning of a failed foreign policy that lit the world on fire,” McCaul, a Texas Republican, said. He urged Blinken to take “accountability for the disastrous withdrawal.” It was clear “it was going to be a disaster,” said Florida Republican Rep. Brian Mast, who will take over as chairman of the committee in the next Congress. RELATED STORY | Where asylum seekers stand, 2 years after the war in Afghanistan The hearing came at the end of Blinken's diplomatic service under Biden, with six weeks left before Trump takes office, and at the end of McCaul's time leading the Foreign Affairs committee. It served as a capstone to nearly four years of animosity between the two over the end of America's longest war. “For my part, I’ve been determined to learn the lessons from this experience, not only to learn them, but to act on them,” Blinken said. He added, “We’ve made the State Department stronger and better able to respond to crises than it was when we found it, or it was during the Afghan evacuation.” There was little new ground broken on the U.S. withdrawal, after years of blame-trading between Republicans and Democrats. Blinken pointed Wednesday to the planned 2026 release of a government-appointed Afghanistan war commission's review as the best prospect of an independent full report on the disastrous events of the summer of 2021. The 20-year U.S. military occupation of Afghanistan succeeded in routing the al-Qaida militants responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, whom Afghanistan's fundamentalist Taliban militants had allowed a home. But as the U.S. began its pullout, as set by Trump's deal and carried out by Biden, Taliban fighters routed the U.S.-allied government and military, capturing control of the country within months. An extremist group's bombing at the Kabul airport killed 13 U.S. service members and nearly 200 Afghans as Americans, Afghan allies and others thronged the airport in hopes of seats on the last U.S. military-run flights out. Blinken testified Wednesday that all of the “hundreds” of Americans and dual citizens stranded by the sudden scramble from Afghanistan have now been able to leave, if they have chosen. RELATED STORY | Biden review of chaotic Afghan withdrawal blames Trump He opened his appearance before the committee by turning to families of U.S. forces killed in the withdrawal and expressing condolences. Protesters repeatedly interrupted his comments, crying out “scum” and “genocide,” before security cleared the room of them. Blinken denied Republican charges that he and others ignored warnings from lower-ranking administration officials that the U.S. withdrawal would go badly wrong, and that the U.S. had to move faster on getting out Americans and the Afghans who had worked for and allied with them. “We anticipated that Kabul would remain in the hands of the Afghan government” through the end of the year, Blinken said. “This unfolded more quickly than we anticipated including in the intelligence community.” “Waiting until the last minute is not executing a plan,” McCaul said. Blinken's testimony came months after House Republicans issued a scathing report on their investigation into the withdrawal, blaming the disastrous end on Biden’s administration. They played down Trump's role in the failures even though he had signed the withdrawal deal with the Taliban. Previous investigations and analyses by a government-appointed special investigator for Afghanistan and some private policy groups have pointed to a systemic failure spanning the last four presidential administrations and concluded that Biden and Trump share the heaviest blame.

Groundbreaking Directive Ensures ALS Patients on Medicare Advantage Gain Access to QalsodyPresident-elect Donald Trump has been hitting the golf course regularly since his big 2024 win — proudly riding around in a golf cart and greeting club members and their families just months after an assassin attempted to take his life on the same West Palm Beach, Fla., course. The 45th president had taken a break from golfing in the final stretch of his campaign as he was traveling — and after would-be assassin Ryan Wesley Routh nearly fired on him during a Sept. 15 round at the Trump International Golf Club. But following his blowout victory against Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump has hit the course in regular fashion, with one source saying he likes to go out “every lunchtime.” Trump, wearing a MAGA hat and a red quarter-zip sweater, was spotted taking pictures and inviting a member’s kid to sit in his golf cart over the weekend. “Oh, I love that girl. I love that hair. I want her hair. Can I buy your hair? I’ll pay you millions for it,” Trump said, before stopping and inviting her onto the cart. He was also seen golfing with his granddaughter Kai, who has said she’s out to beat his “ club championship ” record. Routh, who was federally charged and is currently awaiting trial for his attempted killing of Trump, exploited a security hole at the Florida golf course that photographers had known about for years and had used to snap pictures of him. A Secret Service agent was able to spot Routh’s barrel coming out of the tree line and shot first. The 58-year-old alleged gunman fled the scene but was later apprehended. Trump told reporters in September he would “look at” the security situation at his golf course and go from there. “You don’t want to ever be curtailed because of the crazy people out there,” Trump said while visiting a Bitcoin bar in New York. “We’d let the Secret Service determine it.” Secret Service noticeably beefed up Trump’s security detail at events after the attempted assassination at the golf course and the July 13 Bulter, Pa., rally, where 20-year-old gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks shot Trump in the right ear, nearly ending the life of the 2024 frontrunner at the height of his campaign. Security measures at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence also significantly increased since the two assassination attempts. The northern entrance to the incoming commander-in-chief’s private club has been completely closed off to members — despite having coughed up the initiation fee, now sitting at a whopping $1 million — have to detour through West Palm Beach and over Southern Boulevard. Secret Service officers routinely sweep the resort and its outskirts if Trump is on site, with members subjected to airline-style security checks from Department of Homeland Security staff when they enter the premises. At Mar-a-Lago, the 45th president has been in engaged in selecting his cabinet picks and building out his administration with other political appointees. When he’s not in meetings, he’s been seen eating lunch with his top confidant Elon Musk and other key advisers. This weekend, Trump was spotted dining with his wife Melania and her father Victor Knavs and his 18-year-old son Barron Trump, who apparently is on break from studying at New York University. Secret Service and Trump’s team did not immediately respond to inquiries from The Post.