Capesize bulker scrapping is accelerating worldwide this year as scrap price hovers around historic high and the severe slump in shipping market continues.
The number of capesizes sold for demolition so far this year stands at over 30 and industry players forecast the number would hit the peak this year.
Demand for steel is very high in India and the scrap price is over $500 per ldt, which are making shipowners more easily choose to dispose of old vessels.
Clarksons, at the beginning of the year, expected a total of 38 capesize bulkers would go to scrap yards in 2011, double the number recorded last year.
But actual demolition sales are going faster than the estimate and they may hit 40 mark only in the first half of the year.
Capesize bulkers newly built between 2008 and 2010 came in at 363 but scrapped vessels during the same period were only 40. As scrapping is gaining speed recently, many expect the over-supply would be eased to some extent down the road.