Ship Recycling Markets Continue to Struggle

Ship recycling markets continue to struggle going into the final weeks of the year, reports cash buyer GMS. There has been very little activity or new sales to report, with most end users abstaining from buying and rather wishing to wait and watch developments.

Contrary to many expectations, India has lost around 3,000 rupees ($35/LDT) from steel prices.

Pakistan was buoyed by the news that their country will sign up to the Hong Kong Convention – which will enter into force from 2025, so yards have time to upgrade and improve their facilities in line with standards before then.

The EU will also revisit plans to approve select yards in India and add them to the EU list of approved ship recycling facilities – having previously visited but rejected plans to include them several years ago.

So, says GMS, there is much to look forward to going into 2024, although available financing remains of chief concern in both Pakistan and Bangladesh. Constantly fluctuating and depreciating currencies need to settle before banks can start to approve fresh lines of credit in those locations.

There is the general expectation that very few deals or new financing will be seen in Bangladesh until after the elections there in mid-January.

For week 48 of 2023, GMS demo rankings / pricing for the week are: