S & P 

In the Panamax sector at an auction in Cape Town, the M/V PANOS EARTH (75,684 dwt 1984 blt Mitsubishi) reported sold for US$ 2.7m to undisclosed buyers.

In the Supramaxes clients of Sanko Steamship have committed the M/V SANKO TITAN (52,514 dwt 2005 blt Tsuneishi Cebu) at US$ 18.75m to undisclosed buyers.

In the Handysize sector, the M/V EMERALD OCEAN (33.355 dwt 2009 blt Japan) understand is sold for US$ 18.5m while Japanese sellers have also sold the logs fitted M/V GLOBAL PURITY (28,339 dwt 2009 blt Shimanami S.B.) to far eastern Buyers for a price in excess of US$ 18m.

The open hatch types M/V FENIX and M/V CICLOPE (30.027 dwt 1985 blt Mitsubishi) are sold to Turkish buyers at US$ 3.1m each.

Not much sale activity within Tanker S+P market; on larger tankers the M/V FORMOSA SIX (35,033 dwt 1995 blt Shin Kurushima) reported sold for a price in the low US$ 6m.

The stainless steel M/T CRYSTAL AMBRA (8,053 dwt 1998 blt Aarhus) is purchased from Russia based buyers at a price of US$ 9m.

Russian interests have also acquired the M/T OZAY-4 (5,707 dwt 2005 blt Torlak Gemi) for US$ 6.7m.

Finally, Norwegian buyers paid region US$ 10m for each of the marineline coated product carriers namely M/T MARDENIZ and M/T KARDENIZ (6,974 dwt 2008 blt Icdas Celik).

NEWBUILDING  

With the Shipping press reporting various large scale orders being on the horizon spanning dry, gas and containers, it’s going to be very interesting to see if these discussions spark a pre-summer holiday flurry of ordering, or if it is simply premature speculation on what may become! As we have discussed many times this year in this commentary, the biggest obstacle for Yards securing new orders remains the tightness of the financial markets and the on-going challenge for Owners to access debt for existing projects, let alone for pre-delivery and post-delivery financing of new orders.

With the worlds eyes still on the political situation in Greece and its and potential implications on the Eurozone going forward, it is likely that the Greek market will take a wait and see attitude before investing further in newbuildings pre-summer holidays. The Financial markets, after initially reacting positively to the news of the New Democracy victory in last Sundays election, have somewhat softened as the week has progressed and with the news at the end of the week that the credit ratings agency Moody’s having downgraded 15 major global financial institutions, it will sadly no doubt not lead them to lend further money out for new projects when their own cost of borrowing will no doubt rise following the downgrades - this does however remain against the backdrop of competitive asset pricing, so will remain an interesting dynamic to note to what extent the broader economic volatility that exists will stifle demand, or otherwise.

In terms of reported business; In Dry, Jiangsu Steamship Co. are understood to have placed an order for 4 x 63,800dwt Supramax Bulk carriers at Jiangsu New Yangzijiang Shipyard. These vessels are provisionally scheduled to deliver from 2Q 214 onwards and have been reported as having been signed at a price of USD 27.2 Mill each. In addition, CIC Jiangsu are reported to have won an order from Shanghai Yinhua Shipping, a subsidiary of China Shipping Development, for one 47,500dwt bulker. Delivery is understood to be in the latter stage of 2013.

In Tankers, Concordia Maritime are reported to have signed an order at Guangzhou Shipbuilding International for a pair of 50,000dwt chemical parcel tankers with deliveries scheduled for the end of 2014 and Early 2015. The pair are understood to have been ordered at a price of in excess of USD 39 Mill per vessel. Samsung are reported to have won an order from Chevron for a pair of 160,000dwt suezmax shuttle tankers for delivery in Mid 2014. Pricing has not been disclosed for this pair.

Finally, this week saw the announcement that Xiamen has taken an order for a 100,000GT Cruise ship from The Shan Hai Shu group and Xiamen International Cruise at a reported price of circa USD 487 Mill. The vessels is not scheduled to deliver until 2018.