Repair capacity down

High freight rates and ongoing workforce limitations due to travel restrictions and Covid-19 measures are expected to result in south-east Asia’s ship repair capacity falling by more than 25 per cent compared to pre-pandemic levels, according to Nippon Paint Marine. In 2019 a total of 516 vessels totalling 28 m dwt drydocked at Singapore shipyards for paint jobs, but numbers dwindled to 296 ships in 2020 and 316 the following year as the world responded to the Covid-19 pandemic. Similar shortfalls are forecast at repair yards across south-east Asia.