S & P 

A freshly completed mini Cape the M/V INCE ISTANBUL (106,600 dwt 2011 blt STX Dalian) reported sold US$ 32m for prompt delivery from the shipyard to undisclosed buyers.

The modern handy M/V LUPINUS (31,700 dwt 2005 blt Saiki) reported sold to Greek buyers for US$ 16.9m.

The M/V ACE DRAGON (24,280 dwt 1997 blt Hakodate) has been concluded at region US$ 8m with special survey passed 11/2011.

Following the sale of their geared Panamax M/V B INDONESIA (70,424 dwt 1990 blt Hyundai H.I.) at the end of last year for US$ 7.9m to Chinese Buyers, Italian Owners have now disposed the sister vessel M/V B ASIA (70,424 dwt 1990 blt Hyundai H.I. 1990) to Hong Kong based buyers at US$ 6.5m. Singaporean interests are rumoured to have purchased Japanese controlled handy bulker M/V BALTIC FRONTIER (27,293 dwt 1992 blt Minami Nippon) for a softer price in the region of US$ 5.6m; the vessel will be delivered with her SS/DD due promptly.

A quiet week in the Tanker Sale and Purchase market, and aside from the throng of the rumour mill there is very little to report in terms of sales on any of the tanker markets this week.

Indonesian have purchased the vintage Aframax M/T DALMACIJA (96,168 dwt 1996 blt Samsung) for US$ 9.9m.

DEMOLITION 

A slight spike in rates in the earlier part of the week from the waterfront in Alang, India failed to ignite any encouragement amongst the cash intermediary buyers as the majority of these still have a vast amount of tonnage in hand that they continue to try to resell to the breakers. With the supply now far outweighing the demand locally, obtaining an offer for new tonnage from a cash buyer is proving rather difficult.

Fortunately, the volume of new market tonnage has slowed somewhat this week, compared to the ‘manic’ weeks recently seen, and thus may assist the cash buyers to dispose of tonnage in hand. However, some are now predicting a fall in rates again in the future weeks which will not help confidence when it comes to the cash buyers offering for any new tonnage.

Buyers remain apprehensive where Bangladesh is concerned. Continuing reports suggest that cash buyers are still experiencing lengthy delays for local custom formalities and financial implications for tonnage arriving for delivery. This uncertainty continues to hamper the market confidence and proves to their counterparts elsewhere in the Sub. Continent that competition is not aggressive despite the Bangladesh’s recent re-opening.

NEWBUILDING  

This week has seen somewhat of a resurgence in activity in the Newbuilding market with reports of new business being concluded across a variety of sectors. Whilst new enquiry in the beginning parts of the year was somewhat tentative, these latest orders do help to highlight that interest is beginning to grow again as we proceed further into 2012.

Newbuilding pricing has continued to soften and with the charter market continuing to look like it will remain somewhat challenging in the short term, owners are increasingly looking towards the future. As was witnessed throughout 2011 and in the early stages of 2012, many of the shipyards have focused their efforts in improving the efficiency of their designs and have made significant inroads to improving on their fuel oil consumption figures.

Bunker pricing has historically been closely correlated to that of Crude Oil and with the potential for this to rise further on the back of any further growth in oil demand, or with simple price shocks in the market, the importance of these design improvements and the subsequent savings over current design on the water, cannot be understated. It will be interesting to see which owners over the coming months look to take advantage of the perceived oversupply of capacity in the market, to place orders and therefore take advantage of these potential future savings on fuel.

In terms of reported business; In LNG, it has been reported that Golar have once again made a move in the market and contracted 2 option 2 x 162,000CBM LNG carriers with Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries. These vessels are preliminarily scheduled to deliver from 2Q 2014 onwards and are reported to have been signed at a price of circa USD 200 Mill per vessel. Meanwhile, HHI have also disclosed that they have won a further order for a 2 units of 162,000cbm LNG Carriers from Dynacom Tankers, though deliveries and pricing remains undisclosed.

In Dry meanwhile, U-Ming are reported to have returned to Shanghai Waigaquaio for a series of 4 option 6 x 186,000dwt Capesize Bulkers. This order has been reportedly signed at a level of just under USD 50 Mill per vessel with deliveries due to begin from early 2014 onwards.

Finally, in tankers, Navios have announced that they have signed an order at an undisclosed Korean Shipyard for a series of 3 x MR Product Tankers. A total Price of USD 106.5 Mill has been disclosed for this deal and deliveries are scheduled to begin from 2Q 2014 and in consecutive periods thereafter.