Trends in the markets for Power Engineering

We expect the overall difficult market environment and thus the price pressure in the power engineering segment to persist undiminished in 2017.

We anticipate that the order volume in 2017 for two-stroke engines used in merchant shipping will be similar to the prior-year figure. Calls for greater energy efficiency and low pollutant emissions will have a significant influence on ship designs in the future. We expect to see continuing high demand for special-purpose ships such as cruise ships, ferries and government vessels. In the offshore segment, new orders are expected to be at a very low level due to overcapacities, despite the recent slight increase in the oil price. Our assumption is that the volume of the marine market will persist at last year’s level on the whole. The competitive pressure will continue unabated.

Demand for energy correlates strongly with macroeconomic and demographic trends, especially in developing countries and emerging markets. The global trend toward decentralized power stations and gas-based applications shows no sign of slowing down. We predict that demand will increase slightly year-on-year in 2017, but will remain at a low overall level.

In spite of the slight increase in the oil price, the market for turbomachinery is expected to experience a persistently difficult market environment in fiscal year 2017, resulting in high prices and competitive pressure. This is due to expectations that unfavorable economic and political conditions will prevail in some relevant markets. We consequently envisage that in 2017 the market for turbomachinery will also settle at the previous year’s low level.

Due to the fact that new construction capacity is not being utilized in full, the after-sales area is also expected to witness mounting competitive pressure.

For the period 2018 to 2021, we expect to see growing demand in the power engineering markets. The extent and timing of this growth will vary in the individual business fields, however.