Danish shipping is still a force on the oceans where the containerships under Danish flag now have a gross tonnage one and a half times larger than 10 years ago and it has never been bigger.
According to Borsen, the nerve of the global trade is the container transport, and 5 per cent of the world tonnage in container ships sail under Danish Flag, The Danish Shipowners’ Association said.
The development is partly due to the fact that more container ships are registered in the Danish International Shipping Register (DIS), partly that the container ships on average have become larger.
In January 2007 there were 1755 registered ships of at least 20 gross tonnage in the Danish Shipping Register and in the Danish International Shipping Register which is 2 per cent fewer than the year before.
Even though there are fewer ships under Danish flag the tonnage has continued to grow in 2006. As of January 1, 2007, the total gross tonnage of the Danish ships was 8.7 millon gross tonnage – the highest figure ever, and since 1997 the total gross tonnage has grown by 47 per cent.
The total gross tonnage of the container ships was 5.0 million at the beginning of 2007, and the container ships thus account for nearly two thirds of the total gross tonnage of the Danish cargo ships.