With the summer season already well under way and many ship owners getting ready for the autumn, the sale & purchasing activity of second hand vessels seems to have abated during the past few weeks. According to ship brokers, ship owners are actively delaying making investment decisions at this point, as they are looking for ship prices to decline even further. According to a report from Lion Shipbrokers, "as expected this week, we had low level of s+p activity with just a few sales to report, although we noticed numerous purchase enquiries in the market, especially for Japanese built tonnage.
On the dry-bulk side, clients of Sinokor of S. Korea are reported to have acquired a 180k cape resale dely 2013 ex Sundong shipyard in China for $39.5 mill, while we heard rumour that Vinashin supramax hull No: S010 HVS resale has been committed to Indonesian interests for $20.3 mill. We also picked up that Turkish controlled handymax AYSE AKSOY (46K BLT 1995 TSUNEISHI/JAPAN CR 4X25T) has gone to Chinese buyers for the price of $8.6 mill, however she was circulated in the market today for sale. Late 90's vintage singledecker ASIAN FORTUNE (6K BLT 1998 IMABARI/JAPAN CR 2X30T) was snapped by Indonesian buyers for $2.8-3 million" said Lion Shipbroker.
According to Golden Destiny, a total of 14 deals were concluded this week, for 14 vessels in a total investment of 70.95 million euros, with the tanker segment appearing the most active. In its separate weekly report, Clarksons Hellas noted that in the dry bulk carrier segment, "the ore carrier M/V BAOSTEEL EDUCATION (228,527 dwt 2009 blt Namura) is changing hands within Japan at a price of US$ 45m. The buyers are reported to be MOL to whom the vessel was under timecharter until 2029 at US$ 20,000 per day.
In the post panamax sector, clients of Diana Shipping are reported to have committed a resale controlled by Kambara interests from Tsuneishi Zhoushan Shipyard Hull SS-118 (97,988 dwt) for a price in the region of mid US$ 20’s.
In the supramax sector, a resale from Hyundai Vinashin Shipyard the Hull S010 (55,783 dwt 2012 blt Hyundai Vinashin), originally contracted by clients of E.R.Schiffarht, has been sold by the yard to clients of Thailand’s Precious Shipping at a price reported to be as low as US$ 20.5 million. In the older handysize sector, the M/V BRAVE JOHN (39,230 dwt 1983 blt Kanasashi) has been sold by clients of P&P Shipping to Ukrainian buyers for circa US$ 3.7m. Chinese buyers are reported to be behind the purchase of the M/V BARCELONA (27,573 dwt 1984 blt 1984 Mitsui) from clients of Nordstrand Maritime at region US$ 1.9m while the Thai Pacific Maritime controlled M/V SIAM TOPAZ (26,587 dwt 1985 blt Kanasashi) has been sold to Greek interests for region US$ 2.45 million" said Clarksons Hellas.
It also announced that it has been appointed officially by the Korea Deposit Insurance Corporation (“KDIC”) in conjunction with a Korean partner to exclusively manage the sales and related consultancy of 7 modern bulk carriers namely “SEA OF HARVEST” (81,508 dwt, built 2009 Universal), “GRAND CHALLENGER” (82,992 dwt, built 2006 Tsuneishi Zosen), “SEA OF FUTURE” (76,454 dwt, built 2005 Tsuneishi Zosen), “SEA OF GRACIA” (about 76,015 dwt, built 2003 Tsuneishi Zosen), “SEA OF HARMONY” (about 76,379 dwt, built 2001 Tsuneishi Zosen), “SUNNY PRIDE” (about 74,078 dwt built 2000 Imabari) and “ATLANTIC ADVENTURE” (about 55,709 dwt, built 2006 Oshima, C4x30T). At present, we are preparing further information, and discussing the time frame of the sale with the controlling interests, and will be able to revert with further information on how the sale will proceed in the coming week" the company noted.
Meanwhile, in the tanker S+P market, Clarksons Hellas said that "an interesting deal we can report is the sale of four German controlled 1998 built Aframaxes to South Korean interests - namely, M/T CAPE AVILA (105,237 dwt 1998 blt Halla) and sisters M/T CAPE AKROTIRI; M/T CAPE ASPRO and M/T CAPE ANCONA. The sale was committed on a subject inspection basis at region US$ 10.5m per Vessel and delivery will be later this year. The D’ Amico’s older Aframax, M/T SCORPIUS (94,225 dwt 1994 blt Fincantieri) has achieved US$ 13m. The IMO II/III M/T BALLAD (44,999 dwt 1996 blt Halla) reported sold to Nigeria based buyers at US$ 10.25 million" it mentioned.
Lion Shipbrokers added that in the tanker segment, "clients of Sinokor of S. Korea have been particularly busy purchasing en bloc four 1998 South Korean built (Halla) aframaxes for $10.5 mill each. Greek buyers are said to have bought double hull MR unit BALLAD (45K BLT 1996 HALLA/S.KOREA, EPOXY COATED, LDT 9709) for $10.6 mill. Three stainless steel units changed hands this week; Undisclosed buyers committed modern Japanese built unit SIVA ROTTERDAM (19.9K BLT 2012 USUKI/JAPAN) for $30 mill while older unit CHEMSTAR DUKE (19.5K BLT 2000 SHIN KURUSHIMA/JAPAN) went to clients of PT Musin Mas of Indonesia for $12.25-12.65 mill levels. Five year old GOLDEN MERMAID (12.7K BLT 2007 HIGAKI/JAPAN) was sold within Japan for the price of $15.25 million" Lion said.
Finally, on the container/mpp front, clients of Costamare of Greece have bought geared feeder PEMBROKE (2442 TEUS BLT THYSSEN/GERMANY CR 3X40T) for $7 mill while clients of Simatech of U.A.E. have acquired polish built feeder R. PARTNER (20K BLT 1994/POLAND 1354 TEUS CR 3X45T) for $2.7 million.