Newbuilding Ordering Activity on the Rise

More newbuilding orders were submitted last week, as owners are eager to book more berths, ahead of a capacity overflow among major yards. In its latest weekly report, shipbroker Allied said that it was “another fairly busy week for contracting, with a good number of orders outside of the bulker and tanker sectors in contrast with the week prior. In the dry bulk sector, Wisdom Marine continues to invest in Handysize vessels and now has around 10 vessels on order. On the tanker side, buying appetite was focused on the product and chemical sectors, which have been benefiting from good earnings and a buoyant secondhand market lately. Sea Pioneer managed to secure their ‘early delivery’ 2025 vessels for a below-market rate of $45m p/v on account of a high upfront payment, and K Shipbuilding secure their 5th and 6th MR orders of the year. ONE followed through on reports in October of their plans to order a series of 13,000 TEU ships, with a 12-vessel order split across two Chinese yards worth an estimated $20bn – the most valuable boxship order since Evergreen contracted 24 methanolDF vessels in July. In the Gas sector, Greek buyers contracted 4 Ammonia carriers and 2 LNG carriers, while UK based Purus Marine bagged 2 Ethane carriers – all at South Korean yards”.

In a separate report, shipbroker Banchero Costa said that it was “a busy week in the NB market across all different sectors, predominantly for multiple orders. Orders were recorded in the container sector and in the smaller product tanker and general cargo sector. ONE selected 2 Chinese shipyards for an order of 12 x 13,000 teu NeoPanamax (methanol fuelled); the equal split goes to Jiangsu Yangzijiang and Jiangnan. The deliveries are stretched into 2026 and 2027.

The Chinese shipyard specialised in smaller units Ningbo Xinle took an order for as many as 18 units from a newly formed company called Mila Shipping which ordered 6 x 7,500 dwt product tankers and 12 x 8,300 dwt general cargo vessels, pushing the deliveries into 2028. Arcadia Shipmanagement returned to order new buildings after a break of several years; they awarded Hyundai for 2 x 158,000 dwt priced around $ 85 mln, no delivery dates emerged. We cannot conclude the NB section without including more LNG business been concluded and mentioning Evalend who exercised 2 more options for 174,000 cbm at Hyundai HI for delivery into 2028”, the shipbroker said.

Meanwhile, in the S&P market this week, Allied said that “on the dry bulk side, things-in terms of activity-moved at a stronger pace week-on-week, highlighting the rather solid buying appetite prevailing in the market at this point. Both the Capesize and Handysize markets kept the leading role in terms of 4-week trend metrics, with the Panamax size segment though, noticing the highest number of transactions as of the past week. With freight rates indicating upward mobility as of late, coupled with recent small signs of resistance in price levels, we may anticipate a fervent snp market in the upcoming period. On the tanker side, the flow of transaction appeared more sluggish as of the past week, especially from the side of the bigger size segments. Except for the Aframax and MR sizes, that both retained rising activity levels, the overall tanker snp market hovers in an relatively uninspiring trajectory for the time being”.

Banchero Costa added that “the Japanese built Capesize AGIS 182,000 dwt 2023 Namura is rumoured sold to Clients of ArcelorMittal for $67.5 mln. In the Kamsarmax segment a resale has been reported: the AP LOVRIJENAC 82,000 dwt 2024 Jiangsu New Hantong is reported sold for $37.62 mln to the Egyptian National Navigation Company (NNC), to be delivered in Q1 2024. The Japanese controlled ROYAL KNIGHT 59,000 dwt 2013 Kawasaki is rumoured sold to Greeks at $19.5 mln; the price is a bit softer than the sister ship BULK PATAGONIA 59,000 dwt2012 Kawasaki, sold in September at the same price but one year older. The TESS 58 OCEAN DESTINY 58,000 dwt 2008 Tsuneishi is reported sold $13.8 mln, while the older NAVDENHU PURNA 53,000 dwt 2005 Imabari seems sold at $8.5 mln On Handysize, the ATLANTIC RUBY 33,000 dwt 2012 Fukuoka is rumoured sold to undisclosed buyers at $14 mln.

In tanker market, starting from Aframax segment, the most notable sale was the one of the P. KIKUMA 116,000 dwt 2007 Samsung sold to undisclosed buyers at a price around $39 mln. Back in week 39, a two-year younger vessel, was sold for a similar price: the FULMAR 116,000 dwt 2009 Hanjin sold at $39.5 mln. The CONCORD EXPRESS 112,000 dwt 2003 Hyundai was sold to UAE based buyers at $26 mln. On MRs, CHEMTRANS CAROLINA 53,000 dwt 2006 Guangzhou (Ice class 1A super) was reported sold to undisclosed buyers at low $29 mln, while SEAWAYS LORAIN 51,000 dwt 2008 STX was sold at $ 24.5 mln. As regards chemical tankers, Norvegian shipowner Stainless Tankers (backed by UK based Tufton) has expanded is fleet with a double acquisition of two J19: MONAX and MARMOTAS – both built 2005 Usuki – at price of $27 mln enbloc”, the shipbroker concluded.

Nikos Roussanoglou, Hellenic Shipping News Worldwide