S & P

It has been an extremely busy week in the dry sale and purchase market with a number of notable sales to report. We understand that HHI have now sold 7 x 84,000 dwt “kamsarmax” (note 235m LOA) resales originally contracted by clients of TMT. The first group of 4 ships (Hulls S543, S544, S545,

S546 ‐completed November 2011 to January 2012) have reportedly been sold to a Greek interest for a price in the region of $24m each. Whilst the second group of 3 ships (Hulls S547, S548, S549 ‐completed July 2012 to November 2012) have been sold to far eastern buyer for $25m each. The higher price for the second group reflects the inclusion of bow/stern thrusters on the ships and the fact that they are of more recent construction.

In the Capesize segment the newly delivered M/V SPICE (176,000 dwt 2012 blt Jinhai) is reported to have been purchased by Chinese buyers for US$ 33.5m.

In the supramax sector the Japanese controlled M/V MIMOSA (53,556 dwt 2007 blt Iwagi) has been committed to clients of Thoresen Thai for US$ 17.1m while the M/V NANOS (50,236 dwt 2002 blt Mitsui) is sold to clients of Gurita Lines, Jakarta for US$ 14m with a prompt charterfree delivery. On handies, the Japanese controlled M/V ETERNAL CONFIDENCE (29,905 dwt 2002 blt Shikoku) has been sold to Turkish buyers for US$ 10.7m basis a charterfree delivery in China within December 2012.

In the Tanker S+P market; BW Maritime have offloaded 2 Japanese built units. Understand “BW UBUD” (299,990 dwt 2000 blt IHI) and “URAL” (299,990 dwt 2000 blt IHI) have been sold to Greek buyers at the reported purchase price of US$ 29.1 m each.

NEWBUILDING

As we move into the final months of the year, the Newbuilding market continues to see a relatively steady level of activity. Enquiries continue across a variety of sectors, with Dry Bulk and Containers in particular continuing to generate interest. Despite this, ordering this week has not been focused in these sectors, with the highlight of the week being another VLCC Tanker order being placed in China, only the second order of its kind this year.

The past few weeks have seen a number of earning announcements being released by the Shipyards and these give an interesting insight into the state of the market. Given the pattern of ordering over the past few 18 months and its shift away from the conventional sectors, the results are perhaps not too surprising. In Korea, yards such as Samsung have announced a healthy increase in earnings and revenue, which has been supported by the success of their offshore and LNG product mix. In contrast,

results from the publicly listed groups in China and some of those in Japan have been less positive,

with revenues showing a decline. With the historical focus of these yards being on the Dry Bulk and other conventional markets, this really does highlight the challenging environment faced by these yards in the current climate.

To contest this, the shipyards have worked hard on their offerings over the past 18 months, not only in the form of new efficient designs, which with the recent Scorpio announcement over the positive performance of their new MR newbuildings ‐ is certainly looking like a positive step, but also in broadening their product ranges to help mitigate against specific sector demand fluctuations. With the market likely to remain challenging in the short term, it will interesting to see how successful these measures will be.

In terms of the weeks reported business; In Tankers, Dalian Ocean Shipping Company (COSCO Dalian) are reported to have placed an order with GSI (to be constructed at the Guangzhou Longxue) for 3 firm VLCC Tankers of approx 300,000dwt, with options for a further 2 units. These vessels will deliver from 2015 onwards, specific pricing has not been disclosed, but as brokers believe pricing lies in the mid USD 80s Mill. In Dry, Fednav are reported to have placed an order at Universal Shipbuilding for 1 x 25,000dwt handysized ice breaking bulker. The Polar Class 4 vessel will be built at Universal’s Tsu shipyard with the reported delivery scheduled for End 2013. No pricing hasbeen disclosed for this bespoke vessel.