Strong newbuilding market underpins shipowners' optimism.

The newbuilding market has strengthened considerably over the course of the past week. In its latest weekly report, shipbroker commented that March finished with a strong show for new contracting, with 22 firm orders coming to light last week. Although this number is slightly lower than the week before, if all options are declared, last week will provide a greater boost to the orderbook than the week prior. Considering the slew of container deliveries expected, we unsurprisingly had another week without new...