The US-flagged fleet is clearly dominated by Offshore Support Vessels (OSV) in terms of size. 895 ships are flying[ds_preview] the stars and stripes but the fleet size to value ratio is not that impressive. US-flagged OSVs are worth 3.43 bn $. Meanwhile, 74 tankers under US flag have a combined value of 4.47 bn $. Coming in third and fourth are Offshore Construction Vessels (OVC; 64 ships, 1.51 bn $) and container ships (68 units, 1.46 bn $).
The age profile of the US-flagged fleet shows a need for modernisation. Fleet value drops sharply for vessels that are 15 years or older. The fleet even comprises a number of sips in the 40 to 50 years age group.
US owners have been very busy buying second hand ships in 2013, 2014 and 2017. Activity has dropped in 2018 and even further in 2019. Since 2015, second hand sales have outrun purchases, especially in the past two years, when US owners sold almost three time the amount of ships compared to the purchasing side. Interestingly, total spent in selling shows an almost continuous downward trend since the 2014 pick up in activity.
