S & P

It has been a slow week, the effects of general concern over developments within the European economies (and it's wider effect worldwide) combined with a general summer slowdown meaning that the majority of owners are taking a usual "watch and wait" attitude normally prevalent at this time of year. That being said, with a number of 90's and 00's built ships currently being aggressively marketed for sale at weakened price levels we expect that we will see some sales of more modern tonnage being concluded in the coming week or two, but at reduced price levels. 

In the Capesize, the M/V SAMSARA (150,393 dwt 1996 blt Kawasaki) and M/V BRISBANE (151,066 dwt 1995 blt NKK) reported sold to Sinokor at US$ 18m and US$ 17m respectively.

In the Panamaxes, the M/V IRINI (69,734 dwt 1988 blt Imabari) has been sold to undisclosed interests at US$ 10.9m.  

The M/V NEW HARMONY (45,304 dwt 1995 blt Imabari) which is controlled by Hsin Chien Marine in Taiwan, has been sold to Far Eastern interests at levels reported to be in the US$ 15,8m although there are also rumours to suggest that the price may have been closer to low-mid US$ 15m. 

Greek buyers have agreed to pay region US$ 6m for the handy size M/V KATARINA (28,468 dwt 1986 blt IHI); the vessel passed special survey in April of this year.   

NEWBUILDING 

With the annual Summer shipyard holidays in Korea now approaching, we anticipate that the coming two weeks will remain a little subdued.

As we have previously discussed - the newbuilding story of the year has been dominated by high value business - with LNG, Container and Offshore sectors leading the charge. Competition across these sectors has been fierce and with a much narrower pool of yards competing for the same business, buyers prepared to invest into high value assets, have been to realise competitive pricing, as a result of the competitive dynamic that exists between the yards.

This week we saw HHI announce a 10% drop in their operating profit against an increased year on year sales performance - Samsung also announced $14.2bn of orders year to date - but again a much reduced level of profitability. So whilst there is no doubt that the shipyards in Korea have been successful in terms of maintaining productivity and certainly winning some high value and profile business - this has not been as profitable an endeavour as the market might assume.

This will certainly impact on how the pricing story will evolve in the 3rd and 4th quarters of the year - and whilst there will certainly be an interest from Seller's to continue to drive momentum into the market - this will be against a continued pressure to improve margin - and as to whether Buyers will be accommodate such a potential firming of values - this remains to be seen!

In terms of reported business, clients of Thenamaris have signed a pair of 5,000 TEU Containerships to be built at Hyundai Samho. These vessels are scheduled to deliver in Aug/Oct 2013 though we understand these were in fact contracted last month in June.

In Dry, Campbell Shipping have signed for 2 option 2 x 37,000dwt Handysize bulkers at Tsuji Heavy industries. We understand these have been signed at a price of circa USD 25.3 Mill with deliveries of the firm units scheduled in Jun/Sep 2013.

In Tankers, SOCATRA are reported to have signed 2 x 37,690 dwt Prod/Chem Tankers at Hyundai Mipo. These will be the 7th and 8th vessels in their series and are due to deliver in Oct 2012 and Jan 2013. Hyundai Mipo have also signed 2 x 19,000dwt Bitumen Tankers with Gearbulk Ltd with the vessels due to deliver in 2013.