First 21st-century capesize sold for demolition

London: Japan’s K Line has sold a 15-year-old capesize vessel for demolition, making the vessel the youngest cape to be scrapped in three years – and the first 21st-century cape to hit the welder’s torch.

K Line last week sold the Cape Flora (164,000 dwt, built 2000) for demolition in India for a price of $365/ton ldt (21,100 ldt total), earning $7.7m in all.

Only two other capes aged 15 years or younger have been scrapped since 2000, according to data compiled by Splash.

NYK sold the 14.9-year-old Shagang Sunrise (173,000 dwt, built 1997) for demolition in China in July 2012. In May 2010, Mitsui OSK sold the 12.9-year-old Bright Century (178,700 dwt, built 1997).

“The May 2010 sale is well into the global market crisis and that may be the reason for such a young sale,” an analyst at a major shipbroker told Splash. “Also, Japanese owners do not like to sell tonnage to competitors when the market is poor. They like to feel they are doing their bit to improve the market.”

Two more capes were sold for demolition last week by Greece’s Chartworld and Japan’s MOL.

Chartworld sold the Star Yandi (170,000 dwt, built 1996) for demolition in Pakistan for a total price of $8.2m. The scrap price was cited at $397/ton ldt (20,536 ldt total), plus the cost of 1,000 tonnes of bunkers remaining on board.

MOL sold the 22,531-ldt Rubin Phoenix (171,100 dwt, built 1997) for $395/ton ldt, plus 1,400 tonnes of intermediate fuel oil (IFO) onboard. The vessel is bound for a beach in India.

Another notable demolition last week was another of the world’s few remaining oil/bulk/ore (OBO) carriers.

Noble Group’s Aqua Challenger (169,400 dwt, built 1992) was sold for demolition in Pakistan for a price of $400/ton ldt (22,695 ldt total). Including the sale of 2,000 tonnes of bunkers left onboard, the divestment will have earned around $9m for the Chinese operator.

Just 19 OBOs remain in the global fleet (2m dwt total), and only seven oil/ore (O/O) carriers (2.2m dwt), according to data from VesselsValue.com (VV).

Surprisingly, demolitions of now-obsolescent OBOs have been relatively infrequent, in spite of the aging fleet. The last such vessel to be scrapped was Guangzhou Kuifenghang Shipping’s 1994-built Sino 6 (83,200 dwt), which headed to Pakistan in March 2013.

Demolitions of bulkers have been steadily increasing, as Splash reported previously, but the vessels scrapped are getting older on average.

Seventy-one bulk carriers have been demolished so far this year, with an average age of 34.8 years, VV data shows.

In contrast, only 40 bulkers were scrapped in January and February 2014, with an average age 30.5 years.