Ship Recycling Resurgence Greater Than Expected
Indian sub-continent ship recycling markets enjoyed a greater than expected degree of a post-Ramadan resurgence, reports cash buyer GMS.
“Vessel prices across the various destinations seemed to have concurrently enjoyed varying degrees of an uptick this week on the back of which some eye-opening sales were seemingly concluded into the various sub-continent locations.”
However, this firming is certainly surprising, given that recycling destination currencies suffered through their own versions of volatility against the U.S. dollar this week, says GMS.
The week saw a Sinokor’s container ship breach USD 600/LDT just last week. This sale promptly led to several container ships being proposed for sale, as surprised shipowners welcomed the possibility of achieving USD 600/LDT, and recyclers on the serious hunt for tonnage became excited. “Accordingly, frantic offerings ensued and although USD 600/LDT was not breached, several deals were reportedly concluded at these firmer overall levels,” says GMS.
Amidst this week’s unexpected batch of tonnage offerings of container ships, several older bulkers and general cargo vessels from Far Eastern / Chinese markets remain on the recycling menu, as freight rates unexpectedly experienced their own dip this week, after what has been an extremely strong and sustained charter market across nearly all sectors since the turn of the year.
Despite the dumping of cheap Chinese billets into the global / Indian markets, punitive tariffs are doing what they were meant to, i.e., helping avoid another catastrophe similar to the one in 2015. “Indeed, the Indian market has jumped back into the picture this week, with some impressive offers on this most recent batch of containers, securing their vessels for dormant Alang yards, while Bangladesh once again picks up a majority of the rest. As Pakistani recyclers rethink their price ideas and Turkey spends the week invisible in celebrations, it has certainly been an interesting overall week for the industry.”
For week 15 of 2024, GMS demo rankings / pricings are:
