Dry bulk freight rates are on a summer charge with capes hitting $25,000 a day, panamaxes above $21,000 and supramaxes closing in on $20,000, says an article published in Splash.
Secondhand sales
The hot market has not translated into higher asset places which helps explain this week’s impasse in secondhand sales activities.
Ship inspections are still being carried out in great numbers, but sellers are holding out waiting for the market to adjust itself.
Introduced regulations
What is also noticeable this week is that the recently introduced Chinese regulations on vessel imports banning all non Tier II ships from September 1 is now having an effect.
Chinese bureaucracy means that ships sold now which are outside of East Asia are unlikely to get registered in time with Splash hearing of many deals falling through and owners shifting focus to younger vessels.
Bullish attitude
“On the dry bulk side, a healthy flow of S&P transactions took place this past week. The capesize segment took the lead, with a rather bullish attitude being expressed by most buyers, as the level of speculative buys seems to be driven in line with the considerable improvement in the freight market as of late. With the main focus placed on more modern units less than 10 years old, we may well continue seeing a considerable volume of deals coming to light on the back of a healthy appetite that seems to be prevailing amongst most in the market for the time being,” Allied Shipbroking said in its latest weekly report.
Doubled price
Allied Shipbroking and Intermodal have identified US-based owner SwiftBulk as the buyer behind the 2009-Chinese-built 82,108 dwt kamsarmax BBG Ambition.
Chinese owner Beibu Gulf Shipping, the shipowning unit of Beibu Gulf Port Group, has made a quick profit from the deal, having bought the vessel for $9.2m in March 2016 and sold it for an almost doubled price of around $17.2m.
Purchase deal
More than five shipbroking houses all listed an en bloc sale and purchase deal of two Chinese-built 53,176 dwt sister supramax bulkers, the 2011-built Amber Beverly and the 2010-built Amber Alena.
The two vessels were sold by Hong Kong’s Goldwin Shipping to Chinese interests for $23m in total.
Characterized deal
“On the tanker side, activity was still holding at relatively good levels. Once more, this seemed to be mainly characterized and driven by en bloc deals, the latest of which was the sale & leaseback deal of the Scorpio fleet. Given that buying interest is still holding, it seems that there is ample room for further such transactions to take place and we may well see this continue on into the Autumn period,” Allied Shipbroking said.
Transocean Maritime’s entry
Shipbroking houses include Banchero Costa, Allied Shipbroking and Intermodal all reported the sale of the 2010-Japanese-built MR tanker Maersk Mishima.
The 45,971 dwt tanker is said to have been snapped up by Monaco owner Transocean Maritime.
The vessel has fetched a price of around $16.7m. The deal also marks Transocean Maritime’s entry into the tanker market.
The company currently operates a fleet of 15 bulk carriers.
Limited activities
Intermodal listed a deal in which the 2003-built 37,300 dwt MR1 tanker Laima has been sold by Greek owner Product Shipping and Trading to fast growing Indonesia owner Soechi Lines for an undisclosed price.
It is the second tanker Soechi Line has acquired this month, having also acquired the 2010-built tanker Ping An from China’s ICBC Leasing for $9.2m.
The secondhand container ship sale and purchase market has seen limited activities following solid performance in the past couple of weeks.
Compatriot owner
Allied Shipbroking, Intermodal and Lorentzen & Stemoco all reported a deal in which Jakarta-based shipowner Asian Bulk Logistics acquired the 1998-built 1,157 teu Sinar Batam from compatriot owner PT Pelayaran Caraka.
The Japanese-built vessel was sold for a price of $6m.
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Source: Splash
