S & P 

One more week with market focusing more on larger sized vessels with Buyers keeping their interest triggered despite the instability in the Capesize spot market.

Chinese sellers are understood to have committed M/V HOUHENG SUNRISE (176,298 dwt 2003 blt Universal) to Greek buyers for a reported US$ 34m with delivery in March 2012 while other Greek buyers have acquired the Taiwanese controlled  M/V FORMOSABULK ENERGY (170,089 dwt 2002 blt IHI) paying US$ 30.5m. The OBO M/V FRONT RIDER (169,718 dwt 1992 blt HHI) reported sold to undisclosed buyers at US$ 12.5m.

Other sales include the open/box bulker M/V AQUILA COMPANION (20,567 dwt 2000 blt Germany) to F. Eastern buyers for US$ 10.5m; the M/V SELETAR HOPE (18,320 dwt 2000 blt Shikoku) is sold to Greek buyers for a reported price of US$ 10.6m.

In Tanker S+P market we understand that M/T LEANDER (308,491 dwt 1999 blt HHI) is now committed on subs to offshore/conversion buyers SBM at a price region US$ 33m.

 NEWBUILDING  

With the world continuing to spin on its uneasy axis, and our leaders continued inability to bring any kind of stability to the financial markets, we are left wondering how this will affect the shipbuilding industry as a whole. In China, there are signs that the State, in the form of the country's transport ministry, may well step in to try and control the amount of ships that the state controlled yards are able to deliver, as concerns in all quarters grow that the current over supply of tonnage is of no help to anyone within the shipping community. In the long term, this is a laudable decision from the world's largest shipbuilding nation assuming of course that the Ministry is able to implement such measures and if achieved should be welcomed by the wider shipping community.

However, the problem really lies in the short term in that there is still a considerable amount of tonnage that needs to be absorbed into the market; although the one positive is that Clarksons Research forecasts, estimate that in GT terms we may have reached the peak in terms of deliveries last year, with shipyards delivering 96.9 million GT in 2010, compared to our forecast of 95.8 million GT for 2011 and then a further 86.9 million GT forecast for 2012. The issue of course for cash hungry shipyards is what measures they are able to take, to not only sustain a certain level of production, but also how they can go about incentivising Owners to place new orders in a market that is currently over supplied, as well as underfunded, with many traditional shipping banks unable to step up to the plate to fund new orders.

In terms of new business in Dry, Tata NYK are reported to have placed orders for 2 units of 58,000dwt bulkers at Tsuneishi Zoushan as well as a further unit of 56,000dwt at Oshima Shipyard, deliveries are scheduled for 2012/2013. In Gas, Mitsubishi Shipyard have signed contracts with Osaka Gas Co for 2 units of 153,000dwt LNG carriers. Deliveries are split between 2014/2015.