With BDI falling all the way, global shipping market and shipowners have been greatly depressed since 2008 financial crisis: growing secondhand sales, decreasing new orders and rising order delays and cancellations. Domestic securities companies point out that current shipbuilding market has drawn more and more interests form domestic investors.
According to the database of Eshiptrading (as shown in below graph), secondhand market is now in buyers’ market - sellers are eager to dispose ships on hand while buyers try every means to lower the quoted prices.
 At the same time, more and more owners began to find proper buyers by themselves in order to dispose ships soon with better profits. As we can see, owner as direct buyers are not as many as brokers and agents till now, however the number has increased greatly compared with that in peak season.

As for different ship types, bulk carriers see most transactions and then followed by tankers and tugs. In China, bulker owners and builders are the majority due to bulkers’ low operation and construction cost, strong demand as well as low technology requirements.
With Chinese government’s strict control on new tanker capacity, some owners choose to dispose secondhand tankers recently, which is a good opportunity for new buyers. However, buyers and investors should be more cautious due to current financing conditions.

In bulker trading market, 5,000dwt-10,000dwt secondhand bulk carriers are the hot type in China. Regarding to the underlying reasons, the buyers of big ships are mostly state-owned owners who have its own way to acquire the vessels. On the other hand, the transactions of big ones are mostly operated by famous brokers instead of common ship exchange market.

Offshore plants have led the newbuilding market in recent shipbuilding market, the same goes for secondhand market. Tugs and other offshore plants have been more active with growing demand and more advanced technology. However, the prices have been a little weak due to the overall slack.
According to Eshiptrading, more potential overseas sellers have turned their eyes on Chinese buyers. But where should domestic sellers go for their vessels to dispose? Maybe those well-funded owners or investment companies are good choice. However, to buy or not to buy, is still a question for ship owners in current market.