Ship Recycling Markets Calm After Hectic Start of Year
After what has certainly been a hectic January of negotiations and a late February / early March of unending deliveries with nearly 200K of LDT delivered in recent weeks, a period of calm reflection descended across Indian sub-continent ship recycling markets, reports cash buyer GMS, with an alarmingly minimal number of deals being fixed over recent weeks including this one.
“And ever since prices have been at and even well under the now chased after USD 450s/LDT across the board (as confirmed via last week’s logger sale into Bangladesh), barely any sales have even been rumored to take place.”
Bangladesh remains ahead of its regional competitors with (weakening) levels still emanating from India and an inadvertently more competitive / stable Pakistan not far behind, snapping on their heels for the slim picking of units available. And this has once again presented itself via a severely dithered Alang anchorage and Pakistan’s second delivery in three months this year.
“It has been a number of weeks since we saw more than one market unit concluded into the sub-continent ship recycling markets as the Baltic’s Dry Bulk Sea Freight Index reported further climbs and registered its highest levels since November 2024, further deviating dry bulk and container freight sectors away from the bidding tables as firming rates push on and are maintaining the backlog of vintage / over aged vessels on the high-seas over the last few years.”
There have been confusing signals from recycling markets. The U.S. Dollar has suffered a stuttering time as it weakened against some currencies while strengthening against others. Local steel plate prices hammer sentiment down in both India and Pakistan, while Chinese plate prices finally firm after a long time. This could have a positive effect on sub-continent markets in the long run.
For now, the ongoing downtime via the lack of availability of tonnage is providing recyclers in both Bangladesh and Pakistan the perfect opportunity to upgrade their yards up to Hong Kong Convention standards ahead of its entry into force on June 26, while a majority (if not all) Alang yards are already accredited.
A number of larger LDT OFAC listed / sanctioned vessels remain unsold in cash buyer hands amidst fresh sanctions being imposed on vessels currently idling outside Bangladesh, highlighting once again the risks some cash buyers are willing to take and the international laws they are willing to violate, just to make a quick buck, says GMS.
GMS demo rankings / pricing for week 11 of 2025 are:
