In Hellenic Shipping News 27/07/2016
Nikos Roussanoglou, Hellenic Shipping News Worldwide
The prevailing trend set since the start of the year seems to be set in stone during most of the summer as well. Shipbrokers’ reports have little to …report week in and week out. In its latest report, Allied Shipbroking admitted that there was “not much to report this week as newbuilding activity dropped back down as buying interest remains limited. Prices are still pushing for further corrections, though there has been an indication that we may see a slight pause in this regard as well as shipbuilders are finding it hard to tackle with their prevailing costs and cash flows. As we move closer to the month of August, expectations are for a lack of activity to hold as the seasonal lull will take hold and keep things even more bearish. At the same time, given the rate of decline in the orderbook for all market sectors, shipbuilders are struggling to deal with the market conditions that are prevailing and will have to find new strategies in order to keep their business going. As we move closer towards the end of 2017, this pressure will only amplify further given that there are still ample slots available for both 2017 and 2018 delivery dates”, said the shipbroker.
In a separate note, Clarkson Platou Hellas also said that it was “another quiet week in the Newbuilding market with only one order to report. Kleven Verft in Norway have announced an order from compatriot owner Hurtigruten for two firm plus two optional 15,000 GT polar-class Cruise vessels for delivery in July 2018 and July 2019 for the firm two units. The 140 meter vessels will be able to accommodate 600 passengers and will be built to Ice Class”, said the shipbroker.
Meanwhile, in the S&P market things are shaping up to be quite different. According to Allied Shipbroking, “in the dry bulk side, a very active week especially in the Panamax size segment with a number of units from the whole age spectrum trading hands. Prices however seemed to have stalled any further movements this time around as sentiment has left for limited upward price movements to be seen. Given that the freight market has seemingly peaked for now there might even be some slight downward corrections to be noted. On the tanker side, with the major enbloc deal from Stolt-Nielsen being the exception, activity has remained fairly subdued for yet another week. It seems as though buyers are still pushing hard for further discounts to be noted in terms of prices and given the latest trends being seen from the freight market this is not without reason”.
Finally, in the demolition front, Allied noted that “after a period of limited activity and lacking interest, the market was shaken back into life with appetite amongst ship breakers remerging and owners now looking once again at the option of sending their overage units for recycling more favorably now. Activity as such was at considerably better levels to what it was the week prior and reported prices noted a significant spike. Competition amongst breakers with available capacity allowed for some considerable premiums to be seen on high spec units, while the fact that there are still considerably fewer demo candidates out there compared to the levels that were being seen in the first half of the year, has allowed for the market to make some ground in terms of offered prices. Having said that however, we are still seeing a slower rate of demand compared to what was also seen back then, so we may well find it difficult to break well above these price levels during August”, the shipbroker concluded.
Nikos Roussanoglou, Hellenic Shipping News Worldwide
