Ship Operating Costs Annual Review and Forecast 2025/26

This comprehensive annual report provides one of the most complete assessments of ship operating costs available in a single source. Operating cost assessments are provided for 47 representative ship types and sizes, spanning the container, dry bulk, oil (crude and products), chemical, LNG, LPG, general cargo, reefer, Ro-Ro and car carrier sectors.

The report includes detailed data and analysis of cost trends and forecasts for each of the main cost heads, i.e. manning, insurance, stores & spares, lubricants, repairs & maintenance, dry docking, and management & administration.

Each of the 47 vessel types and sizes covered in the report shows:

• Assessment of 2025 ship operating costs by main cost head (e.g. insurance) and sub-cost (e.g. hull and machinery insurance) for 10-year old vessels (younger where appropriate)
• Operating cost ranges, indicating the typical spread of daily opex across the fleet
• Operating costs by vessel age (newbuild, 5, 10, 15 and 20 years) broken down by main cost head
• Historical and forecast trend in annual ship operating costs for the period 2021 to 2030, broken down by main cost head

Discover the full scope of cost categories covered

Who will be interested in this report: Use cases 

Vessel owners, operators and managers

• Benchmark operating costs of your own vessels vs global median estimates from Drewry
• Use operating cost forecasts for internal budgeting and planning process

Creditors and equity investors

• Add our operating cost estimates to cash flow and valuation models
• Assess company performance based on its operating costs vs global median estimates from Drewry