The rate of deals concluded since the beginning of 2013 in the second hand vessel purchasing market, as well as in the newbuilding ordering business indicates that many ship owners seem to be thinking that the worst is over for the shipping markets, although most analysts conclude that any sort of sustainable recovery in most shipping segments, shouldn't be expected any earlier than mid-to late 2014. Still, during the first three weeks of 2013, there have been approximately 118 newbuilding orders, 28 for dry bulk carriers, 22 for tankers, 11 for gas tankers and 12 for containers, according to data compiled from shipbroker Golden Destiny. During the first month of 2012, the total ordering activity hadn't surpassed 58 newbuilding orders.
The Piraeus-based shipbroker added that S&P deals in the secondhand market are also heading to higher levels than January of 2012, with about 80 vessels reported to have changed hands from 75 last year and the downward pressure of asset prices will welcome firmer volume of investments in the coming days. "In the demolition market, 57 vessels are reported to have been headed to the scrap yards during the year to date, from 114 vessels in January of 2012, with a 37% decline in bulk carriers’ scrapping activity. The upward trend of scrap prices in the Indian Subcontinent region and China will trigger more vessel disposals from owners who still hold vintage tonnage unprofitable in the existing freight market" said Golden Destiny.
In the second hand market, the shipbroker noted that "the fourth week of January ends again with robust purchasing activity, with bulk carriers of modern and vintage tonnage monopolizing investors’ interest, while in the tanker segment, no interesting S&P deals emerged this week. In the kamsarmax segment, a 82,000dwt vessel built 2013 China reported sold for about $21,5mil, when in January 2012, a Chinese kamsarmax resale has been reported sold for about $33mil. In addition, two Chinese handysize newbuildings built Tsuji, China reported resold for about $17,5mil each, when in July 2012, Tsuji Jiangsu handysize resale reported sold for about $20mil. In the supramax segment, two Japanese vessels built 2006 of about 56,000dwt reported sold for about $16,5mil each, when in April 2012, a supramax vessel of 56,000dwt built Japan had been reported sold for about $23,5mil.
In the container segment, there has been some light activity with 3 handy containers of vintage tonnage reported sold and a notable sale emerged for a panamax containership with 5,928TEU built 2003 reported sold for about $20mil. Overall, 26 vessels reported to have changed hands this week at a total invested capital in the region of US$ 234,3 mil , 6 S&P deals reported at an undisclosed contract price. Bulk carriers held the lion share of this week’s S&P activity, 54% with a total of 14 vessel purchases. In terms of the reported number of transactions, the S&P activity is up by 86% from last week’s activity, due to a 180% weekly increase. Comparable with previous year’s weekly S&P activity is up by 63% year-on-year, when 16 vessels induced buyers’ interest at a total invested capital of about $166,09mil with 4 S&P deals in the bulk carrier segment and 3 in the tanker. In terms of invested capital, the bulk carrier segment appears as the most overweight segment by attracting about 84% of the total amount of money invested" the report concluded.
Meanwhile, in the demolition market this week, shipbroker Intermodal noted that "demo prices remained fairly stable this week without any major fluctuations in the Indian Sub-Continent or China. As the latter will be on holidays for a few weeks, though it will be very interesting to see how that will affect prices offered by breakers elsewhere. What is still overwhelming is the supply of vessels for scrapping. With bulkers and containers leading the way, this week was extremely active in terms of demolition volumes and the strong feeling about a record demo year only gathers more pace as we approach the second month of 2013. It feels almost as if owners who have decided to beach their vessels will do it anyway at this point despite the small downward fluctuations in prices that might take place further down the line. Prices this week for wet tonnages were at around 400-440$/ldt and dry units were seeing levels of about 390-420$/ldt" Intermodal concluded.