GMS Week 02 – STARTING AS MEAN TO CONTINUE!

It has been an excellent start to 2021 for the international ship recycling industry, as steel gains have pushed the markets on again, particularly in a resurgent Bangladesh, which tops the leaderboard by some distance and for another week.

Following the ban on iron ore imports from Australia, China has started to import scrap steel from international markets once again and this can be partially attributed to some of the stunning rates on show.

The roll out of Covid-19 vaccines across the world has also brought some optimism back to global markets as well, even though the virus continues to surge in the U.S., U.K. and other parts of Europe.

That we may be over the worst of this pandemic cannot be said though, with record cases and deaths still being witnessed with this new more transmissible strain in the U.K. (in particular). It will certainly take some time before a relative sense of normality begins to return, particularly when it comes to travel, quarantine, and potential delays on ‘as is’ take overs of vessels.

Demand remains good across all locations, and as we head over the USD 450/LDT mark, many owners are now tempted to sell for recycling, despite some impressive charter rates being seen in different sectors.

How much longer some of these firmer rates last, remains to be seen. However, with BWTS set to be installed on a whole raft of vessels, expect another busy year in recycling markets.

For week 2 of 2021, GMS demo rankings / pricing for the week are as below.

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Source: GMS