Newbuilding orders reaching new Post-Crisis heights
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- Category: General
- Published on Thursday, 13 February 2014 08:01
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Wednesday, 12 February 2014 | 00:00
Ship owners are looking to take advantage of the last few attractive deals in the newbuilding market, before prices start climbing to new highs and are piling up the orders in a frantic pace. According to the latest weekly reports from shipbrokers, activity has kept on rising, with the deals done prior to the Chinese holidays now surfacing. According to the latest weekly report from shipbroker Golden Destiny, there were orders for 103 vessels over the course of the past week. Those ships are equaling a total deadweight of 2,959,787 tons, while 51 transactions were reported at an undisclosed prices. The invested capital for the remainder of the orders stood at $1.1 billion (52 new orders).
According to the report, in total there were orders for 43 bulkers, 28 tankers, 5 gas tankers, 10 containers and 17 special projects. These numbers translate to an increase of 134% versus the same week of 2013 (which already had seen significant increase over 2012), while on a weekly basis the increase stood at 69%. Golden Destiny noted that "the largest volume of newbuilding activity is reported in bulk carrier with focus in the ultramax/kamsarmax/capesize segment and in the tanker with focus on the handymax/handysize chemical segment. Orders for bulk carriers held 42% Share of this week’s ordering activity; tankers 27% share, gas tankers 5% share, containers 10% share and special projects 17% share. At similar week in 2013, 44 fresh orders had been reported with the largest activity in the bulk carrier/tanker segment -14 and 19 reported new contracts respectively. (14 bulkers, 19 tankers, 2 gas tankers, 2 containers, 2 Ro-Ro and 5 special projects). Compared with previous week’s levels, a large increase of 75% is recorded in the volume of new orders for tankers (28 new orders from 16 in the last week) and 48% increase in the bulker segment (43 new orders from 29 last week). A weekly decrease of 29% is recorded in the gas segment (5new orders from 7 in the last week. In the container segment, the post panamax vessels emerged again in the frontline, while in the offshore segment, there is 325% weekly increase. (17 new contracts from 4 in the last week)", the Piraeus-based shipbroker said.
In a separate report, Clarkson Hellas said that in the dry bulk segment, "NK Shipping are reported to have extended their series of 82,000 DWT Kamsarmax at Weihai Samjin, taking the total series to six vessels. Pricing was not disclosed, however delivery of the latest two is planned for the first quarter of 2017. China Merchants Energy Shipping additionally declared four further options in a series of 64,000 DWT Ultramax at Chengxi Shipyard. The latest vessels are due to deliver in 2017, taking the series to ten vessels".
In the tanker market, the shipbroker mentioned "further orders in the VLCC sector to report this week, with clients of Oceanbulk Maritime contracting two firm 300,000 DWT crude carriers at Hyundai Heavy, both for delivery in 2016. Although contracts were signed at the end of last year, it has come to light that Clients of Neda Maritime have placed an order for two firm 110,000 DWT LR2 product carriers at Sumitomo Heavy, due to deliver in the second half of 2015".
In other segments, there was "just one order to report in the container market; UASC have taken their series of 14,000 TEU container carriers at HHI to eleven vessels by declaring a further six options. Delivery of the latest tranche is due within 2016. To remind you, UASC also has orders for five 18,000 TEU ultra large container carriers at the same yard with delivery starting in 2014. Maran Gas has declared options for the third and fourth in a series of 173,400 CBM LNG carriers at DSME, delivering in the final quarter of 2016. In the smaller sizes, clients of Brave Maritime have contracted a single 5,000 CBM LPG carrier at Sasaki in Japan, due to deliver at the end of 2014", Clarkson Hellas concluded.
DEMOLITION ACTIVITY
Meanwhile, in terms of demolition activity, which has slowed down considerably over the past few months, on the back of renewed market sentiment on the freight market, Golden Destiny noted that "Indian ship recyclers have emerged very aggressive by offering the best levels in the Indian subcontinent region for attracting new tonnage from bulkers and containers for disposal at levels far above of $400/ldt. In the meantime, the upcoming Central Elections scheduled for May 2014 in India have started to create political uncertainty that may impact negative the fierce position of Indian in the demolition scene, while Bangladesh tries to compete with the Indian offers. Pakistan still appears unable to compete with Indian rivals, while Chinese New Year has brought silent scrapping activity for Chinese demolition market".
The shipbroker added that "in terms of deadweight sent for scrap, there has been 28% weekly decrease with 3 demolition deals reported for large vessel size categories in the container panama segment (4,000-5,000TEU). India is reportedly to have won 8 of the 13 demolition transactions, Bangladesh 3, Turkey 1, while no activity is reported for Pakistan and China. Benchmark scrap prices in the Indian subcontinent region: $415-430/ldt for dry and $455-$460/ldt for wet cargo. Scrap prices in China hover at $340/ldt for dry and $350/ldt for wet cargo. At a similar week in 2013, demolition activity was up by 38%, in terms of the reported number of transactions, when 18 vessels had been reported for scrap of total deadweight 945,368 tons with 6 disposals for bulkers,2 tankers, 6 containers, 1 reefer, 1 Ro-Ro and 1 combined. Ship-breakers in Indian subcontinent region had been offering lower levels of the current year, $400-410/ldt for dry and $430-$435/ldt for wet cargo", Golden Destiny concluded. Nikos Roussanoglou, Hellenic Shipping News Worldwide