In Hellenic Shipping News 16/11/2016
In a not so surprising development, deals in the shipping market were far and few apart over the course of the past week, as most of the world focused in the US elections and the surprising result they produced. In its latest weekly report, shipbroker Allied Shipbroking noted that it was “another lackluster week with the previous “so called” momentum having all but evaporated and only one notable order surfacing this past week. The focus continues to be primarily pushed towards tanker units, with Large Range product tankers being the main item on most potential buyers list. There are rumors of many shopping around for price quotes, though few are these are looking to be of high likelihood to materialize into actual orders as most buyers have been hoping for considerably more competitive prices then those being quoted. Despite this, it looks as though shipbuilders are unable to push their costs considerably further down from their current levels deterred by their costs and the price hikes being noted in key commodities such as steel and iron ore. What most keep hopeful for is that increases in secondhand prices and easier access to financing might eventual push things in their favor. Given the prevailing trends right now it is unlikely that we will see this really take effect any time soon”, said Allied Shipbroking.
Meanwhile, in the S&P markets this week, in the tanker segment, Vessels Value reported yesterday that “no sales have taken place within the VLCC and Suezmax sector, values are weaker due to a softening in market sentiment.
Aframax values have softened in modern tonnage due to the sale of the Phoenix Beacon and Phoenix Concord (105,500 DWT, 2011 & 2012, Hyundai Heavy Ind) sold for USD 58 mil Enbloc, VV value USD 64 mil. LR vessel Ice Base (63,600 DWT, 2008, STX Offshore) sold by Scorpio Ship Management to Ultranav for USD 18 mil. 3 sales have taken place this week within the MR sector, values have softened in newer tonnage. The Seto Express (48,400 DWT, 2007, Iwagi Zosen) offloaded by Shoei Kisen to MOL, sold for USD 13.75 mil, VV value USD 15.31 million”, said the ship valuations specialist.
In the dry bulk segment, VV noted that “Capesize values have remained steady over the past week, no sales have taken place. 3 sales have taken place within the Panamax sector this week, a slight softening in values is due to the sale of the Grand Ocean (81,600 DWT, 2012, Longxue) sold for USD 12.8 mil by MSI Ship Management to Kassian Maritime. VV value USD 13.36 mil. Both Supramax and Handy values have remained stable in newer tonnage and firmed in older tonnage. Firming in older tonnage across all sectors is due to an increase in scrapping rates”, said VV.
In a separate note in the S&P market, Allied said that “on the dry bulk side, some further activity being seen this week though with price levels still persisting close to their previous levels. Considerable activity still being witnessed in the “middle” size groups and even for some older age tonnage which is quite a surprise given the still lackluster conditions in the freight market even after the recent rally being seen. On the tanker side, things started to move once again in the direction of product tankers, though despite the lack of reported sales there still seems to be underlining buyer demand for the larger crude carriers though it seems as though sellers are still struggling with the prevailing prices being offered by most buyers. In comparison product tankers have been able to keep a more bullish look to most would be investors even after the recent spat in the freight market, with their long fundamentals still showing more promise than that of crude carriers”, the shipbroker concluded.
Meanwhile, in the demolition market, Allied said that “with the accident and subsequent closure of operations in Pakistan, a small shock wave surpassed the demolition market, though this was short lived as the main effects seemed to have been focused on tanker vessels which in the current market were few and far between demo candidates. Nevertheless, this has caused increased concern as to how stable the market is right now and how well prices can hold under the underlining fundamentals in place. Things are also shaky on the foreign exchange front as the U.S. Dollar has managed to come out on top after last week’s presidential election results. At the same time we have seen a strong positive movement in commodity prices which has allowed and will likely allow further price support for local steel prices in the Indian Sub-Continent. Furthermore demo candidates still remain comparably few in number with the containership sector being the main source of new candidates at the moment being the sector facing the most pressure in the freight market right now”, Allied concluded.
Nikos Roussanoglou, Hellenic Shipping News Worldwide
