The dry bulk chartering market continues to show little improvement this past week, keeping a lid on the muted sale and purchase scene. There has been a general lack in confidence among investors to push for any bargain hunting. However, owners still favour the secondhand market rather than ordering newbuildings as the market uncertainties have made them wary of committing to long term investment.
Banchero Costa’s latest weekly report shows that the capesize chartering market recorded another depressing week with rates softening in all basins, and the panamax market remained quite similar to last week, while smaller sizes showed signs of improvement on some routes including India to South Africa and Far East to Pacific.
According to Allied Shipbroking, so far this year there has been a drop of 37.8% in terms of the number of S&P transactions taking place compared to the same period back in 2018 while in terms of total tonnage capacity this drop amplifies to 40.4%.
“On the dry bulk side, several fresh deals were concluded this past week. Buying focus seems to have been primarily on the panamax segment lately. This may well depict the negative outlook currently prevailing on the larger capesize segment. Based on the current freight market performance, expectations are for activity to still remain relatively subdued, with owners likely waiting for a clear sign of strong market improvement before making any haste decisions,” Allied Shipbroking stated.
Banchero Costa and Optima identified Estonian company Graanul Invest as the buyer behind the sale deal of the 2012-built 36,600 dwt handy bulker Nord Mumbai. The Hyundai Vinashin-built vessel was sold by Danish owner Norden for a price of $12.5m. Graanul Invest is pellet producer and currently owns one handy bulker in its fleet.
Allied Shipbroking and Optima reported the sale of the 2016-built 61,255 dwt ultramax bulker African Loon. The current charterer of the vessel exercised a purchase option and acquired the ship from Japanese owner Shoei Kisen for a price of $22.6m.
More than eight shipbroking houses reported the sale of the 2002-built 50,000 dwt supramax bulker Navios Meridian. The Japanese-built vessel is believed to have been sold by Greek owner Navios Maritime to Chinese interests for around $7m.
Lorentzen & Stemoco and Advanced Shipping & Trading reported the sale of the 2017 Chinese-built kamsarmax Asia Confidence. Chinese leasing house CDB Leasing has taken over the vessel from Greek owner Alpha Sigma Shipping in a sale and leaseback deal. The value of the deal was not disclosed.
“On the tankers side, activity showed some signs of improvement this past week, but with transactions being limited to just the product tanker size segments. The positive market outlook for the products market has boosted interest, something which should follow through to the next couple of weeks, possibly allowing for some further price gains. On the other hand, interest for crude oil tankers seems to have stagnated for the time being,” Allied Shipbroking said.
This week Splash has already reported two tanker sale and purchase deals. Sorrento-based shipping firm Socomar purchased the 2010-built product tanker Lavela from Unicorn Shipping for a price of $14.8m. Danish owner Celsius Shipping bought the 2009-built 46,500 dwt tanker High Strength from DM Shipping for $16.4m.
Multiple shipbroking sources listed the sale of the 2003 Japanese-built small product tanker Sunny Poseidon. The vessel was sold by Japanese owner Asahi Tankers to Indonesian interests for $5.3m.
In the secondhand containership sale and purchase sector, both Allied Shipbroking and Braemar ACM Shipbroking reported the en bloc sale of two 2007 Chinese-built 1,432 teu boxships, Independent Accord and Independent Concept. Greek owner Contships bought the two vessels from Germany’s ICL Holding for $14m in total.
