Gas carriers cornered the largest chunk of global shipping investment last year since 2005, just as the profits to be made from shipping liquefied natural gas are falling to their lowest in almost two years.According to Clarkson, the world's largest shipbroker, ship owners spent US$9.1 billion on orders for vessels to haul liquefied natural gas (LNG) and liquefied petroleum gases, equal to 10 per cent of total cash spent on building ships last year. And in the first four months of this year, $3.3bn was invested in gas ships out of $21.9bn in total, the report stated.

Greek Shipping Minister Kostis Moussouroulis said on Saturday that Greek shipowners have recently signed contracts to buy 142 new ships from Chinese shipbuilding companies.The orders, which were signed in April, accounted for more than 60 percent of the recent global orders of Greek shipowners, said the Greek official.

The chief executive of the world's largest container shipping company Moller-Maersk told CNBC that the company would not order any new ships this year and it had idled 28 vessels around the world this year.

Gas carriers accounted for the highest share of total shipping investment last year since 2005, according to Clarkson Plc, the world’s largest shipbroker.

The shipyard industry seemed to head straight for the output-abyss just 15 months ago. Today the transition from recent years' record high shipyard output to a more sustainable level of output appears to soft-land with global shipyard output clearly slowing down. This BIMCO analysis compares data from December 2011 with data from March 2013, representing a remarkable turn for the shipyard industry.

Three emerging trends -- falling US oil imports, the return of some manufacturing capacity to rich industrialised nations and advances in vessel design -- could significantly change the competitive landscape for global shipping companies and affect their creditworthiness over the next five years, says Moody's Investors Service in a report on the sector published today.

Purchase prices for ships are often good indicators of financial health in the shipping industry. When shipping demand is expected to grow more than the supply of ships, shipping companies will place additional orders, which drives up purchase prices. Additionally, when firms are able to charge higher prices for transporting goods across the ocean, this allows them to generate higher gross margins and returns, increasing the value of ships themselves.

In an important step, Shell has laid the keel for Prelude FLNG, the world’s first floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) project. When complete, Prelude is expected to be the largest offshore floating facility ever built. The hull will now be assembled in the dry dock, before the turret and the topsides are fitted at Samsung Heavy Industries’ Geoje shipyard in South Korea.

Iran is using an Indonesian port in a strategy to keep up sales to buyers in Asia in the teeth of Western sanctions, according to shipping data and industry sources.Two Iranian very large crude carriers (VLCCs) able to hold 2 million barrels each sailed to Batam Island in April, according to AIS ship tracking on Reuters, which tracks global tanker movements, before moving on to China.

Prosecutors in Genoa have placed the captain of the Jolly Nero cargo ship under investigation for alleged manslaughter after the vessel slammed into the dock at the busy port and toppled the control tower into the harbor, killing at least seven people.Prosecutor Michele de Lecce today said the harbour pilot on the ship's bridge at the time of the crash was also placed under investigation. Such investigations are par for the course in Italy.