[[{“value”:”
It is evident many buyers and sellers may be waiting to hear the results of United States Trade Representative hearing this week pertaining to China’s maritime, logistics and shipbuilding sectors and this will also have a knock-on effect on owners and operators of Chinese-built tonnage.
“This could in effect create a two tier market for pricing, with perhaps Chinese vessels facing discounted prices versus Japanese and South Korean built vessels thereby obtaining premiums,” Gibson suggested.
The gathering momentum in the dry bulk freight market is encouraging a bolder approach from buyers.
“Certain sectors of the market look particularly threadbare of candidates which suggests that prices will have to rise to tempt more sellers to come forward,” Hartland noted.
Prices for vintage capesize bulkers are rising notably, as spot rates are up around 300% in a month.
Lila Global bought a pair of 2006-built capes, the 172,000 dwt Maran Sailor and Maran Odyssey, for $19m each. In comparison, Nasdaq-listed Greek owner OceanPal sold a one-year older sister ship in January for $16.2m to China’s Rongchang Shipping.
Norwegian dry bulk operator Western Bulk Chartering locked in about $1.5m profit from the sale of a 2020-built ultramax picked up by exercising a purchase option. The Oslo-listed company has offloaded the Western Singapore to Thai bulker owner Precious Shipping for $28m.
In tankers, VLCC prices continue to firm in tune with brokers’ forecasts of higher rates for ships trading outside the dark fleet. Brokers note buyers are willing to pay a premium for tonnage of reputable propriety for lucrative, compliant trading.
New York-listed DHT sold a 2011-built VLCC, with broking sources indicating that the 320,000 dwt DHT Lotus, built by Bohai Shipbuilding Heavy Industry, fetched close to $55m.
Alleria Shipping, a Hong Kong-registered company, sold the 2009-built, 296,481 dwt Yinghao Spirit, a Bohai Shipbuilding Heavy Industry-built ship, for $52m to undisclosed Middle Eastern buyers.
Nasdaq-listed Greek tanker owner and operator Performance Shipping nearly doubled its money by selling one of its aframaxes. The Andreas Michalopoulos company has offloaded the 2011-built P Yanbu for $39m after picking up the 105,400 dwt vessel in late 2020 for $22m.
Container shipping is in a curious position. Spot rates have been falling all year, with some analysts forecasting profits for the sector will slide by more than 80% this year, and yet the sale and purchase scene remains busy.
Containership utilisation slipped below 90% this month on many of the sector’s biggest tradelanes, while the gap between box freight rates and charter rates has hit an all-time high..
“Continued softening in the spot market comes against a backdrop of weaker than usual volumes post-Lunar New Year, increased competition between liner companies amid alliance restructuring, and widespread uncertainty brought about by an ongoing series of tariff announcements from the US and its trading partners,” commented Clarksons Research in a weekly report.
Despite all this, Alphaliner noted that in the secondhand market: “Prices remain firm, particularly for the quality units.”
Headline transactions include CMA CGM’s acquisition of the 2009-built 4,255 teu Debussy from UK-based Borealis Maritime for around $31m, while MPC Container Ships sold the 1,341 teu Franziska as well as the 1,296 teu Fabiana to Sea Consortium for $21m en bloc.
The post Buyers wait to see fallout from Washington’s shipbuilding probe appeared first on Energy News Beat.
“}]]
Energy News Beat