While August is following its normal historical trend with no sizeable ship orders placed at shipbuilders, brokers are widely expecting a flurry of orders to materialise next month – with newbuild prices set to hover upwards too.
The Clarksons Newbuilding Price Index now stands at 124 points, up marginally compared to the start 2017 level. The index clearly shows that newbuild prices have bottomed out, much to the relief of Asia’s hard-pressed shipyard giants.
Greek broker Allied noted in its most recent report that a major role in the recent price hikes has been played by the new Tier III designs that are slowly being pushed by shipbuilders, while most recent orders have been made by buyers looking to secure the few Tier II slots that are still available
Total newbuild contracting in the year so far now stands at 428 vessels, a 22% year-on-year increase in numerical terms on an annualised basis, according to Clarksons.
