EDITORIAL NO 021 | 2020

A large order for a residency vessel in the style of a cruise ship was placed in Norway this week, giving a signal of confidence in the face of the coronavirus crisis. An order for a new type of sail-assisted VLCC oil tanker was placed in China. But overall coronavirus is still depressing the overall number of merchant shipbuilding orders. The naval sector was active. France looks set to win an order for coast guard vessels from Poland while Spain is joining a European project to jointly build corvettes. The United States is moving forward with a huge order for ballistic missile submarines. The consolidation trend in German naval shipbuilding continued.