Bright prospects in the container and dry bulk segments have been feeding the global orderbook with fresh orders.

In its latest weekly report, shipbroker Allied Shipbroking said that “it was another interesting week for the newbuilding market, given the fair number of fresh ordering activity noted. In the dry bulk sector, we saw some strong moves taking place, especially for the Ultramax and Kamsarmax size segments, all involving Chinese shipyards at the same time. Moreover, thinking about the strong trajectory in terms of freight rates, as well as, the fact that we approach the final quarter of the year, we can expect many fresh projects coming forward, before the year comes to a close. Moreover, it seems that overall activity will vary mostly on slot availability, rather than general buying interest, with the latter being seemingly ample right now. As for the other core sectors, we did not see any considerable push as of late, which comes as a slight surprise, especially in the containership market, given tremendous rally it has undertaken over many months now and the sheer volume of orders we have seen take place over all this time frame”.

Source: Allied Shipbroking

In a separate note, Banchero Costa added that “in the dry market, New Dayang received an order for 4x Ultramax from Wah Kwong. Price to be $30 mln each basis delivery during 2024. Furthermore Finnish owner AtoB@C placed an order in India at Chowgule shipyard to build 6x 5,000 dwt (Ice class 1A fitted).

Source: banchero costa &c s.p.a.

Vessels to be delivered during 2nd half 2023-2024 and price at $12.64 mln each. In the car carrier segment, Kawasaki Kisen committed six 7,200 ceu units with order to be equally shared between three shipyards : Shin Kurushima, Nihon Shipyard and CML Nanjing. Vessels to be LNG dual fuel and deliveries expected to be during 2023-2024”.

Meanwhile, in the S&P market, Allied noted that “on the dry bulk side, the SnP market closed the week on a relatively relaxed tone, given the considerable slowdown in terms of activity levels noted during the past week or so. Notwithstanding this, the upward pressure in both freight return, as well as asset price levels, still suggest a robust buying appetite, with many already anticipating a further jump, assuming a “typical” strong final quarter for the year. For the time being, we see activity being concentrated on the smaller sizes for yet another week. On the tanker side, activity returned once again at relatively mediocre levels, with just a handful of transactions taking place. The stagnant mode in freight earnings has overshadowed any sort of positive trend in the SnP market, with both deal volume levels and buying interest experiencing fluctuations year to date. However, given many are still of the belief of a reverse trend taking shape at some point in the near term, we can expect interesting deals coming forward”, Allied said.

Source: Allied Shipbroking

Banchero Costa added that “in the dry segment, the market keeps healthy with prices slightly on a rise w-o-w bases. Panamax ‘Bellamys’ 76,000 dwt 2005 Tsuneishi has been sold to Chinese buyers for $17.2 mln , which tick more than previous done ‘Great Talent’ ($17 mln) same size/age but Sasebo blt. Ultramax ‘Sailing Sky’ 61,000 dwt 2014 which invited for offers on 21st September has been finally sold for approx $27.2 mln to HTK, Vietnam. Last similar done was ‘Santa Barbara’ 61,000 dwt 2013 Iwagi sold mid August for $2.5 mln (again to Vietnamese buyers) and there is further evidence of market consolidation.

Source: banchero costa &c s.p.a.

Smaller handy bulk carriers are also generating very strong interests. In the wet segment, ‘Minerva Nike’ Aframax tanker 105,000 dwt 2004 blt Hyundai (SS/DD due 02/2022) has achieved $14 mln, fairly in line with recent market. Same age tankers ‘Bunga Kelena 7’ and ‘Bunga Kelena 8’ 105,000 dwt Samsung have achieved $26.6 mln enbloc – hence slightly less than ‘Minerva Nike’. MR2 ‘Justice Express’ 45,000 dwt 2011 Shin Kurushima (BWTS fitted) has been sold to Greek buyers for $17 mln, which being average price for such units/age in today market”, the shipbroker concluded.

Marex Media