In line with a sudden cooling of freight rates the past week was not so busy for bulker sales and purchases compared to the high levels of activity seen lately, with Chinese buyers contributing most of the deals while interest for secondhand tankers remained firm with MR units proving particularly popular.
“On the dry bulk side, things have suddenly quieted down this past week with just a handful of secondhand sales being reported. Despite this, given the recent upward trend noted in the freight market, it may well be a case of a temporary pause as both sellers take an opportunity to regroup to the new realities at hand and find the new price levels that make sense. This will surely be more so the case for the former, with most sellers likely to attempt to capitalize on this bullish sentiment and further drive prices over the next couple of months,” Allied Shipbroking said in its latest weekly report.
More than five shipbroking sources all reported the sale of the 2004-built kamsarmax Sincere Salute. The 85,778 dwt is said to have been sold by Japanese owner NYK for a price in excess of $13m to Chinese buyers.
Advanced Shipping & Trading, Seasure Shipbroking and Clarkson all reported that Taiwan Navigation have sold its 2001-built panamax Tai Prize by tender to Chinese buyers for a low price of $8m.
Another deal that has made its way into several shipbroking reports is the sale of 2001-built supramax Aliki P. The vessel has been sold to Chinese buyers for a price of $8.45m.
“On the tanker side, the level of activity scaled back this past week, dropping back down to the typical levels we have become accustomed to. Despite the bearish mood in the freight market, there still seems to be a fair amount of buying interest around. However, with most of this interest still focused on the bargain side of things, the market is still not there to really accommodate,” Allied Shipbroking said.
A number of shipbroking houses including Clarkson, Banchero Costa, Intermodal all reported a deal in which Japanese owner NYK sold the 2004-built VLCC Takamine. Greek owner Hellenic Tankers is said to have acquired the vessel for a price of $22.7m.
Multiple shipbroking houses all listed the sale of the 2001-built aframax tanker Seaways Josefa Camejo, a deal Splash reported yesterday. UAE-based owner Oasis Maritime is said to have taken over the vessel for a price of $9.5m.
Gregory Callimanopoulos’ bankrupt unit Toisa is continuing the offload of its entire commercial shipping fleet this week following on from last week’s sale of two tankers, United Seas and United Emblem.
Both Allied Shipbroking and Intermodal listed a deal in which Greek owner Diamantis Diamantides’ Delta Tanker has snapped up the 2010-built suezmax tanker United Dynamic from Toisa in a bank driven sale. The 161,653 dwt tanker has fetched a price of $28.5m. Additionally, Toisa has sold the 2010-built suezmax United Grace to Greek owner Harry Vafias’ Stealth Maritime for $22m.
There were no deals to report in the secondhand containership sale and purchase market this week.
With Posidonia now just around the corner, brokers are anticipating a busy final fortnight for May before the markets will go super quiet during the first week of June.
