Shipowners keep expanding fleets

Greek shipowners shelled out more than $1.6 billion in the first three months of 2012 to order new vessels and purchase used ones, according to data from Golden Destiny shipbrokers.

Greek orders account for 7.4 percent of all new shipbuilding contracts signed globally in the same period.

Chinese orders amounted to 5.3 percent.

Greek shippers have placed 21 orders for new ships with a total capacity of 1,543,140 tons.