ContainersDry CargoOperationsTankers

Weekly Broker: Failed bulker sales dominate headlines

Tankers trading hands have led the way recently in what has been overall been a muted few weeks for ship transactions with failed bulker sales dominating headlines.

Allied Shipbroking’s indicative dry bulker values show that the average prices for five-year-old 180,000 dwt capesize bulkers and 10-year-old 170,000 dwt capesize bulkers have dropped by 3.4% and 4.3% respectively since January 21, while the average prices for five-year-old 58,000 dwt supramax bulkers and 10-year-old 56,000 dwt bulkers also dropped by 2.9% and 3.8% respectively during the same period.

“On the dry bulk side, overall activity may have shifted trajectory as of late, with the sluggish mood being clearly apparent now. This has been something in the making now for some time, with the increased sentiment of uncertainty surrounding the market since the Covid-19 outbreak finally catching up to this market as well. Poor freight market returns, coupled by an expectation that things could turn heavily bearish once the coronavirus outbreak is under control has made for a sharp gap between current market buyers and sellers, causing both sides to take a wait and see approach,” Allied Shipbroking said in its latest weekly report.

The 2019 Oshima-built 62,500 dwt ultramax bulker Adventure III has just been sold by Norwegian owner Oslo Bulk to Bangladeshi industrial group Meghna for $26.3m while Angeliki Frangou’s Navios Maritime Holding has declared purchase options in a sale and leaseback agreement with Japanese owner Nissen Kaiun for two 2015-built 180,000 dwt capesizes – Dream Coral and Dream Canary – sold for $36.6m and $34.9m respectively.

Italian owner Express Holding sold its 1998-built 32,000 dwt handy bulker Apuana D to Chinese buyers. Ship registration information shows the vessel has been renamed Ri Yun and is now owned by Guangzhou Seaway International Ship Management.

“On the tankers side, activity was sustained at relatively good levels during the past week. At this point, we see strong interest being concentrated on the aframax size segment. Moreover, across all sizes, the focus is more on vintage units. All-in-all, given the poor sentiment in terms of earnings and the overall turmoil in the shipping market, it is difficult to see if buying interest will be able to hold firm,” Allied Shipbroking said of the tanker S&P fundamentals this week.

Greek owner Embiricos bought the 2004-built VLCC Mediterranean Glory. The Hyundai Samho-built crude tanker was sold by Sinokor for $31.5m.

Cypriot owner Interorient Marine Services sold the 2003-built 37,000 dwt handy tanker Baltic Commodore to fast growing Indonesian owner Waruna for $8.4m.

Finally, the secondhand containership market has seen a great pick-up in terms of trading volumes in recent days with Koreans firmly in the mix.

South Korean owner SM Line sold two 2008-built 6,655 teu ships, SM Hong Kong and SM Seattle, to compatriot line KMTC for $40m en bloc. SM Line also sold another ship, the 2005-built 8,210 teu SM Charleston, to Greek buyers for $19.5m.

MPC Container Ships, meanwhile, sold two 2008-built 1,040 teu feedermax boxships, AS Lauretta and AS Leona, to South Korean owner Sinokor for $6.5m each.

Jason Jiang

Jason is one of the most prolific writers on the diverse China shipping & logistics industry and his access to the major maritime players with business in China has proved an invaluable source of exclusives. Having been working at Asia Shipping Media since inception, Jason is the chief correspondent of Splash and associate editor of Maritime CEO magazine. Previously he had written for a host of titles including Supply Chain Asia, Cargo Facts and Air Cargo Week.
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