The vast oversupply of vessels, most notably in the dry bulk shipping sector, has forced ship owners to intensify their efforts towards recycling their older vessels and, thus, helping remove part of the tonnage which has been looking for cargoes to no avail. With the dry bulk carrier fleet still on the rise, in a much faster pace than the increase of cargoes available, owners have no choice but to make room for the younger vessels entering the fleet.
According to the latest update on demolition activity from Athenian Shipbroker, “the total estimated capacity of tonnage recycled up to now this year has surpassed the whole turn-round for the year 2011, however sentiment in the recycling market continues to weaken as is evident from the sliding prices on offer by both Indian and Pakistani breakers. The Bangladeshi market seems to have been hit the hardest, with levels presently ranging between usd 370-395/ton and plenty of vessels that are already in cash buyers hands awaiting resale to local shipyards. while China remains pinned down due to local market woes, it is expected that even more tonnage will be diverted from the Pacific Basin towards the still more active sub-continent. What the impact of the continuous stream of vessels heading for demolition will spell for prices on offer remains to be seen” said the shipbroker.
In a separate report Lion Shipbrokers noted that “this week’s subcontinent’s rates continue to deteriorate (about $10 since last week) due to vast oversupply of tonnage. Cash buyers and scrap-yards alike, are “cherry-picking” available ships in the demo-market, thus driving prices further down. Rates are currently ranging between $380-$400 for bulkers, $395-$410 for tankers & $395-$405 for container vessels. China is soft paying $290-$305 while Turkey has weaken by $10 paying $305-$310 for bulkers, $320-$330 for containers & tankers.
Meanwhile, in the newbuilding markets this week, according to Clarkson Hellas, "whilst the World's shipbuilders converged in Hamburg last week for SMM 2012, with seemingly busy diaries, we are unfortunately yet to see too much fresh interest emerge from this and new enquiry continues to remain somewhat subdued. Despite this, the week has still seen some reports of new orders being placed, although these in the slightly more niche sectors such as the Car Carrier, Shuttle Tanker and Gas markets, which continue to offer the shipyards support. The overall market conditions continue to remain a challenge for the shipyards. Over the next 6 months, we continue to expect to see a consolidation of shipyard capacity (within China in particular), as a number of yards look to scale back their production and in doing so try to limit their exposure to lower priced contracts" mentioned Clarkson Hellas.
It added that "that being said, the number of contracts placed YTD stands at only 60% of last year’s equivalent (725 vessels in 2012 to date, compared to 1156 contracted Jan‐Sep 2011) and because of this there remains a large amount of production capacity still available from the yards in 2014. As witnessed throughout the year, competition amongst the yards will continue to remain fierce within the conventional sectors. Levels of demand in the market continue to remain limited and are being caused by the tight fiscal circumstances that many owners find themselves forced to operate in. This situation remains unlikely to change in the short term and therefore do expect competitively priced opportunities, including for the very latest economical designs, will become increasingly prevalent amongst the yards as they look to fill their outstanding production slots.
In terms of reported business; In Tankers, clients of AET Tanker Holdings are reported to have placed an order for a pair of 120,000dwt DP2 Shuttle Tankers at an un‐named Korean Shipyard. The yards, which we understand to be Samsung Heavy Industries will deliver the vessels from within 2014. Pricing has not been disclosed. In Gas, Hudong are reported to have won the order from China Shipping LNG for 4 x 174,000cbm LNG carriers. The vessels are expected to deliver from 2015 and through to 2017 but again no specific pricing has been mentioned, for this domestic order. The deal is understood to have options for a further 2 units attached.
Finally, Hyundai Mipo are reported to have won an order for one additional 6,600 CEU PCC from their existing client Ray Shipping. This will bring the total number of these units on order at the yard to 6 vessels and this latest unit will also deliver in 2014" the report concluded.