S & P 

Following last month's reported sale of M/V ENERGY PROMETHEUS (74,083 dwt 1998 blt Imabari) and last week reported Capesize M/V KOHFUKUSAN (172,566 dwt 1999 blt NKK) we understand the vessels were actually part of a 3 ship enbloc deal from Japanese owners to clients of Cyprus Maritime. In the sale also included the panamax bulker M/V ORANGE TRIDENT (78,932 dwt 2007 blt Sanoyas) for US$ 24m.

Other Japanese owners have also committed Brazilian built M/V 'ROYAL OCEAN (70,677 dwt 1995 blt I.V.I. Ishibras) to Chinese interests for US$ 8.5m.

In the Supramax sector, M/V HIRYU (52,982 dwt 2003 blt Oshima) reported sold at US$ 17.7m to Greek buyers while M/V AEGEAN FALCON (50,296 dwt 2000 blt Mitsui) is committed to undisclosed buyers at region US$ 14m or a bit in excess.

Clients of Daebo Shipmanagement have sold their M/V DAEBO FRONTIER (48,280 dwt 1985 blt NKK) for US$ 4.7m.

In the handysize sector, M/V ID PIONEER (26,455 dwt 1991 blt Hakodate) reported sold to F. Eastern buyers for US$ 5.8m while for the overage M/V ZULAL N (23,911 dwt 1984 blt Minami Nippon) Lebanese buyers paid US$ 2.9m.

Not much to report in the tanker S+P market; the coated M/T AGISTRI (9,304 dwt 1992 blt Higaki) is sold to undisclosed buyers for a price just in excess of US$ 2 mill.

In the LPGs Exmar have sold two of their vessels; LPG “ ELVERSELE” (36,761 cbm 1996 blt Kawasaki) reported sold for US$ 31.9m to Ultragas who successfully tendered the vessel for charter to ENAP. The second LPG is the “CHACONIA” (27,509 cbm 1990 blt Belgium) for US$ 17m to Turkish owners Negmar.

NEWBUILDING  

Further reports of new business this week and as we push further into the 2Q of 2012 there is certainly enough volatility amongst the shipyards to make for an interesting environment.

The situation in China continues to unfurl and yield competitively priced opportunities, with the focus primarily being on Dry Newbuilding resale’s as Shipyards struggle to manage their exposure to their own existing orderbooks. With an increasing volume of prompt tonnage coming available to the market - there is certainly pressure on the yards to find a quick resolution here and this is dampening values down to levels that seem to be enticing interest from cash rich buyers.

There is certainly a trade off here between design and price - as the new designs and later deliveries now on offer from Shipyards are certainly offering considerable efficiency savings against the wash of resales coming into the market - however - with a substantial value gap now emerging between these two opportunities in the market - for the moment price seems to be dominating decision making and a number of owners are gunning for low value and exposed contracts as opposed to a longer terms focus on efficiency.

In terms of reported business; In Dry, NSCSA have this week confirmed an order for 5 x 82,000dwt Kamsarmax Bulk carriers and though no shipyard has been mentioned, these are understood to have been placed at Oshima Shipbuilding. No further details were revealed, though deliveries are believed to be throughout 2014.

In Tankers, Wisby Tankers are reported to have placed an order at Hyundai Mipo for 2 option 2 x 30,000dwt Product Tankers with deliveries due in 4Q 2013 and 1Q 2014 respectively. Meanwhile, clients of Sun enterprises are reported to have contracted a pair of 73,000dwt LR1 Product tankers at HHI with deliveries in End 2013 and 1Q 2014. Pricing has not been disclosed for either of these orders.

In Gas, Tsakos Energy Navigation announced last week that it had placed an order for 1 option 1 units of 160,000cbm LNG carrier with delivery of the firm unit scheduled in 2015 at HHI. And finally, Maran Gas is understood to have declared its options and signed a further pair of 160,000 cbm LNG carriers© at DSME. Like the Tsakos ship, these units are expected to deliver within 1H 2015.