Most ship owners are deeming current ship prices on the high side, refraining from making serious commitments in new acquisitions or newbuilding orders, at least for now. According to shipbroker reports, despite the scent of optimism which has been created by the slight softening we have recently seen in asset values, the majority of market players still feel that prices are on the high side and present themselves as reluctant to pursue secondhand tonnage, at least not till the end of the summer, which is, traditionally a rather quiet period.

According to the latest weekly report from shipbroker Shiptrade & Services, over the past week “a total of 21 units changed hands, with the majority of those being tankers. In the dry sector, this week’s most notable sales were those of the two ex-TMT handies, the “A Handy” and the “B Handy”, which found its’ new recipients through auctions, with neither the price nor the buyers having been disclosed yet, however we undertand that the price should be in the region of $19-20 mill. Other than that, Technomar of Greece has emerged as the buyer of the 3 2012 built Crown 58 Supramaxes, in an enbloc deal which involved a 1 year t/c attached to Louis Dreyfus, while Minerva has reportedly paid $19 mill. for the 2009 Jiangsu Hantong-built Supramax “Mandarin Harvest”. 3 vintage units were also sold: the 1995 built capesize
“Cape Warrior” was snapped up by Vista Shipping of Ukraine, while Chinese interests paid $5.9 mill. and $6 mill. respectively for 2 Greek owned Panamaxes, the 1994 built “Themis P” and the 1993 built “Duro”. On the wet front, 2 Suezmax tankers built in 2000, the “Cape Bantry” and the “Cape “Balder” have found their new owners, who have paid $17 mill. each, while, moving downwards across the dwt scale, the 2007 built 37k dwt “Pacific Horizon II” fetched a price of $17 mill. from undisclosed interests. In the chemicall/product tanker
segment, the 2008 built 15.000 dwt “Maasen” (epoxy coated/IMO II/ice class 1A) changed hands for $14.2 mill., with the buyers being based in Singapore”, Shiptrade said.

It added that “Shiptrade’s enquiry Index increased significantly this week by about 36%, something that could be attributed to asset values having started to soften, or even expections for a further decrease, as market players start warming up for acquisitions. On the dry front, the most impressive performance was that of the Panamax Enquiry Index, which increased by 100%, with all the other segments following the same direction, as enquiries for handies were increased by 44%, for Handymaxes and Supramaxes by 60% and, lastly, those for capes by above 100%, but still at single-digit numbers. On the wet front, the usual suspects, MR tankers, attracted interest enhanced by about 23%, with all the other segments, still at absolute levels below 10, but significantly increased”.

Meanwhile, in the newbuilding market, the current situation is more of a stable one. According to the latest report from Clarksons Hellas, “Pan Ocean have placed an order for two firm 207,000 DWT Newcastlemaxes at New Times, with both vessels due to deliver within the second half of 2016. Also in China, Conti Reederei have extended their order for 64,000 DWT Ultramax to a total of 20 vessels by declaring a further eight options. The first in the series will begin to deliver in the early part of next year, with the latest additions for delivery from 2017 onwards. In the same sector JJ Ugland have announced an order at Imabari for two firm 63,000 DWT Ultramax due to deliver in 2017. Blumenthal are also understood to have ordered two firm 34,000 DWT Handysize at Hakodate Dock, similarly due for delivery in 2017. Just one order to report in tankers; CSBC (Keelung) have contracted a pair of 40,000 DWT Handy Product Carriers with Chinese Petroleum Corp (CPC) due to deliver within the final quarter of 2016. A spread of orders across the sizes in the gas market. Starting with the largest, GasLog announced an order for two firm plus up to four option 174,000 CBM LNGCs at HHI. The first vessels are planned for delivery in the second half of 2017 with options from end 2017 and into 2018 if declared. In the midsizes, West Africa LPG have declared an option for one additional 38,000 CBM LPG carrier at Hyundai Mipo, taking the series to two vessels. The first is due for delivery within the end of 2016 and second vessel in
early 2017. Epic Gas have ordered a third 7,500 CBM LPG carrier at Sasaki in Japan, with delivery in the final quarter of 2016. Lastly, K-Line have announced two further 7,500 CEU car carriers at Shin Kurushima for delivery in 2017, taking the series to four vessels”, Clarksons Hellas concluded.