Shipping companies looking at sending their ships for demo in south Asia are likely to face severe disruption thanks to the spread of coronavirus with only Bangladesh fully open for business at the moment.
Currently, both Alang in India and Gadani in Pakistan have put a hold on beaching vessels until at least March 31. The one caveat is vessels with full Indian crew that have not recently been trading to restricted countries will be permitted into Alang.
Bangladesh currently has no restriction on beaching, after health officials have checked and cleared the inbound crew.
Brokers report the volume of reported sales for recycling has been greatly reduced in the last couple of weeks as a result of this new swathe of coronavirus regulations.
“In light of the new port restrictions in India and Pakistan, more owners are looking to sell units ‘as is’, thus putting the burden of how the vessel will reach its final recycling destination on the cash buyers,” Clarkson Research Services noted in its most recent weekly report.
