Ship owners have refrained from placing any new orders of vessels during the course of the past few days, according to shipbroker reports. According to Clarkson Hellas, "it has been a particularly quiet week this week in the Newbuilding market and for one of the few times this year we have witnessed no new reports of business being concluded at any of the major shipyards, at least within the conventional sectors. Despite this temporary lull in contracting activity, the market has continued to remain somewhat active with enquiries still being made across a variety of sectors ‐ in particular within the Dry and Container markets. Despite the continued challenging circumstances within the global shipping markets, the continued availability of competitively priced Newbuilding capacity, itself focused around the latest efficient designs, continues to generate interest amongst owners in the yards latest offerings. This has in particular been witnessed, at least in recent weeks, with orders for efficient Handysize & Kamsarmax Bulk carriers, as well as smaller feeder containerships in China and it should be expected that further similar orders will surface over the coming weeks as more owners take advantage of the continued potential availability of Newbuilding capacity" said the report.
It also mentioned that "the additional challenge for the yards this year within the Newbuilding market, has been that of the availability of resale tonnage. This continued availability of distressed/resale tonnage within the market and the subsequent disparity in pricing between these vessels and potential newbuilding has certainly acted as somewhat of an additional obstacle to further ordering, despite the depressed earnings amongst vessels over the last few months. That being said however, with the differential in performance and efficiencies between the existing fleet and the latest generation of designs continuing to grow, we do not expect this will continue to be the case" Clarkson Hellas concluded.
Meanwhile, in the sale and purchasing activity front, the shipbroker noted that "this week has seen activity in the 1990s built age group continue strongly. Undisclosed Greek interests are understood to be behind the purchase of the M/V MATILDE (160,013 dwt 1997 blt Hyundai) at around US$ 12-12.5m and M/V RUBIN ACE (151,279 dwt 1996 blt NKK) for region US$ 10-10.5m. Elsewhere in this age group; German owners are understood to have committed the M/V POWHATAN (70,153 dwt 1995 blt Sumitomo) to undisclosed interests for a level of circa US$ 7m. The Handymax M/V SUNNY GLORIA (45,715 dwt 1998 blt Tsuneishi) reported sold at US$ 9.5m to Bangladeshi buyers while the Japanese-built handy M/V C. S. VICTORY (32,385 dwt 2003 blt Kanda) was sold for about US$ 10.9m.
It was a quiet week for the Tanker S+P market. The VLCC M/T ALGARVE (298,969 dwt 1999 blt Daewoo) reported sold to offshore buyers MODEC at region US$ 35.8m for conversion to a FPSO. It must be noted that this sale was concluded few months ago basis long subjects. In the products sector, Clients of d'Amico have sold the IMO II/III M/T HIGH WIND (46,471 dwt 1999 blt Daedong) to Sinoenergy at US$ 12.2m" the shipbroker concluded.
In a separate note, Lion shipbrokers added that "on the dry-bulk side, we understand that Japanese controlled cape RUBIN ACE (151K BLT 1996 NKK/JAPAN LDT 17757) was sold on private basis to clients of N.G. Moundreas of Greece for $10.5 mill. Late nineties panamax CEMTEX RENAISSANCE (71K BLT 1998 HITACHI/JAPAN) is committed for a soft $8.7 mill to undisclosed interests. Bangladeshi buyers are linked with purchases of two handymaxes this week at firm levels; Japanese controlled SUNNY GLORIA (45K BLT 1998 THUNEISHI/JAPAN) attracted a punchy $9.4 – $9.7 mill from clients of Symphony while older unit ROGUE (42K BLT 1991 OSHIMA/JAPAN LDT 6531) fetched the solid price of $5.8 mill. We picked up that Greek buyers have bought 5 year old handy CLIPPER GLORY (30.5K BLT 2007 SHANGHAIGUAN/CHINA CR 4X30T) for high $11 mill. Remind you that her exact sister CLIPPER GRACE was reported sold one month ago for $11.3 mill also to Greeks. Japanese controlled C. S. VICTORY (32K BLT 2003 KANDA/JAPAN) is sold for $10.8 - $11 mill to Greek buyers, same level with end August’ sale of one year older sister IVS KESTREL (32K BLT 2002 KANDA/JAPAN) for $10.8 - $11 mill to Far Eastern buyers. Vintage handy ROYAL RUBY (27K BLT 1985 MITSUI/JAPAN LDT 5672) achieved the price of $2.8 - $2.9 mill by Chinese interests as well as smaller handy TASMAN ID (21K BLT 1994 SAIKI/JAPAN LDT 5204) for $4.5-4.9 mill" Lion noted among others.