Around 43.29 million dwt of old ships have been reported as sold for demolition by September this year, broker Ed McIlvaney says.
More than 55 million dwt could go to scrap yards in the whole of 2012.
EBM Shipbroking’s McIlvaney says that 935 vessels of 42.57 million dwt were reported as sold for scrapping back in 1985, of which the record is now broken by this year's new historic high.
Figures by Clarksons also show that demolition sales are up 39% on an annualised basis.