Appetite for Newbuildings Remains High

Investors kept on buying newbuildings, despite the lull in the China market over the past week. In its latest weekly report, shipbroker Banchero Costa said that “the Chinese holidays did not slow down the pace of new orders being placed. Gas, container and tanker are the main segments were we recorded a solid number of new contracts. In the gas sector, a busy week for LPG and LNG with Samsung taking 2 x 174,000 cbm LNG carriers from MISC basis delivery 1H 2027 whilst compatriot builder Hyundai Mipo got 2 x 45,000 cbm LPG carriers from PascoGas for delivery 2H 2027. No price emerged for these contracts. In the tanker sector Mitsui selected Dalian Cosco for the construction of 2 x additional 309,000 dwt VLCC to their existing order. The prices are escalating for these units reported close to $150 mln. The MR orderbook grew further, with 6 x 50,000 dwt placed at Huanghai in a JV between the builder and GHC Shipping. The ships will be chartered out on long BB + purchase options to Seacon, no price reported. The container market sees continuous support and new contracts being inked. Interesting to learn that Cobelfret made its entrance into the cellular container market by placing 6 x 1100 teu feeder at Hyundai Mipo. In a large scale project which was pre-announced recently, Hapag Lloyd started the venture of building up to 24 units of different sizes, with an order of 10 x 9200 teu at Hyundai Mipo”.

Meanwhile, in the S&P market, shipbroker Xclusiv said that in the dry bulk segment, “on the Mini Capesize sector, the “Azalea Island” – 106K/2007 build in Oshima was sold for USD 15.5 mills. Moving down the sizes, the Panamax “Pan Viva” – 75K/2010 Penglai Zhongbai found new owners for USD 15 mills, while the 5-year-older “Glory” – 77K/2005 Tsuneishi changed hands for USD 11.1 mills. On the Ultramax sector, the “Nord Adriatic” – 61K/2016 Iwagi was sold for USD 29 mills. Korean buyers acquired the Supramax “NPS Mosa” – 54K/2007 Iwagi for high USD 12 mills.

Finally, on the Handysize Sector, the “Blue Dragon” – 38K/2011 Imabari was sold for low USD 15 mills, while the 15-year-old OHBS “Kefalonia” – 29K/2009 Imabari changed hands for USD 10.5 mills”. Meanwhile, in the wet market, “the LR2 “PS Genova” – 109K/2010 Hudong Zhonghua was sold for excess USD 40 mills to Dubai based buyers. 2x MR2 Zinc Coated, the “Maritime Inspiration”- 50K/2021 GSI and the “Maritime Verity” – 50K/2021 GSI were sold for USD 48 mills each to Bahri. Finally, on the same sector, the “Hafnia Andromeda”-50K/2011 GSI changed hands for USD 31 mills”.

Banchero Costa added that “sales were flowing in the second hand market: the Japanese built AZURE OCEAN 180,000 dwt 2007 Imabari was rumoured sold at $24.6 mln. The Kamsarmax NAVIOS HARMONY 82,000 dwt 2006 Tsuneishi was reported sold to undisclosed interests at $13 mln. Activity was reported in the Supramax segment, where the S Korean built KIBALI 57,000 dwt 2011 STX was rumoured sold to Vietnamese Buyers at $16.7 mln, while the ZENNOH GRAIN PEGASUS 55,000 dwt 2011 Oshima was sold to Chinese Buyers at $14.7 mln. As a comparison, back in June the older TAI HUNTER 55,000 dwt 2007 Oshima was sold at $14.8 mln. Greeks were rumoured as the buyers of the A WISDOM 53,000 dwt 2007 Iwagi at $13 mln. In the Handysize sector, the MAPLE FORTUNE 32,000 dwt 2010 Taizhou Maple leaf was reported sold at $11 mln. The sistership MAPLE FORTITUDE 2011 was reported sold in September at the same price. In the tanker market, the most notable sale of the week was done by Bahri. The Saudi Arabian state backed shipowner sold the SAFWA 303,000 dwt 2002 Samsung to Chinese interests for $31.7 mln. In the Aframax segment, LAMBADA 105,000 dwt 2006 Samsung was reported sold to undisclosed Buyers at region $32 mln basis dely DD promptly due to Chinese Buyers. For comparison, a two year older vessel – the MINERVA HELEN 105,000 dwt 2004 Samsung (ICE 1C) – was sold back in March in the low $30 mln.”, the shipbroker concluded.

Nikos Roussanoglou, Hellenic Shipping News Worldwide