More than 2,000 newbuilding vessels were ordered in 2013, on top of over 1,500 secondhand vessels traded

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Category: General
Published on Tuesday, 04 February 2014 00:35
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Numbers speak for themselves sometimes, as is the case with the staggering number of vessels ordered and traded during 2013. According to shipbroker data from Intermodal, more than 2,000 ships have been ordered in shipyards, while over 1,500 ships have been traded in the second hand market. According to Intermodal's analysis, "to many in the industry 2013 has been the turning point in the market where the absolute bottom of the cycle was reached and passed. The truth is that from the very start of the year we had good omens pointing to a change in conditions. The start of all this seemed to have been initially brought about by the increased activity that was triggered early on in the year by the continuous drop in value of the Japanese Yen, and more directly by the change in investor perception regarding the level that secondhand and newbuilding prices had reached. This increased activity in the dry bulk market started to gradually build up and in turn creating more buying interest and pushing prices upwards".

Intermodal's Research Analyst, Mr. George Lazaridis noted that "with all this we have managed to see a stellar year in terms of activity, with secondhand sale and purchase activity reaching over 1,500 in number which is considerable improvement compared to the 1,223 that took place in 2012 and the 1,154 in 2011. From this total for 2013, around a quarter were made by Greek buyers, followed by the Chinese which had less than a third of what Greek buyers managed. What makes this even more extraordinary is that these Greek purchases were made in the backdrop of a troubled ship financing sector especially when it comes to Greek banks which faced complete restructuring half way through the year, leaving them with limited resources for use to further support secondhand purchases. One of the biggest transitions in this regard has been the extent to which we have seen private equity funds turning their attention towards shipping and stepping up to fill part of the financing void that has been created these past couple of years", he noted.

NEWBUILDING MARKET

Meanwhile, "there was also a similar development in the new building market, where despite the limited activity of new orders made during 2012, the past 12 months we have seen a dramatic turn around with most shipbuilders’ orderbooks filling up until early 2016 delivery. The total number of new orders reached over 2,000 units for the main four ship types (i.e Dry Bulkers, Tankers, Containers and Gas Carriers), which is a considerable increase compared to the respective 881 noted in 2012. In terms of which shipbuilding nation took the leading role, this year was the chance for Chinese shipbuilders to retake the reigns and receive almost 40% of all the new orders placed. In comparison S. Korean and Japanese shipbuilders both received around 16% each of all the new orders placed. In respect to buyers, Greek and Japanese owners were closely tied first place in terms of volume of new orders made, although Greeks overall made orders for larger vessels", Lazaridis said. He added that "taking into consideration what we had seen throughout 2013, it looks as though there is much to look forward to for the next 12 months. The market players look to be considerably more optimistic than a year back and with limited new deliveries scheduled for this year when compared to previous years, it looks that there is a possibility that the balance between supply and demand may well be even better this year. With much of the worst now seeming to be well behind us it is a matter of how owners will find new and novel ways to fund the opportunities that they find and if they prove to be profitable ventures will that eventually change the perception amongst traditional ship financing banks allowing them to renter the scene and pull the market into even better prospects", he concluded. Source : Nikos Roussanoglou, Hellenic Shipping News Worldwide

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