Newbuilding Orders On Positive Ground

Shipowners’ appetite for newbuildings has kept its positive trajectory, as has been the case for most of 2022 so far. In its latest weekly report, shipbroker Allied said that “the Shipbuilding market moved on a positive trajectory as of the past week, given the fair number of new orders coming to light. In the dry bulk sector, we saw a single order for up to 4 Handysize units being placed at a Chinese shipyard. This came at the same time, rather inline with the strong momentum seen from the side of earnings for this specific size segment. Moreover, given the general strong trajectory in terms of freight returns for the dry bulk market as a whole, we can expect further interest to mount over the upcoming period. In the tanker sector, no fresh orders appeared as of late, somehow attuned with the current disarray surrounding this specific market. The main driver for yet another week was the containership market, with a strong number of new projects taking shape as of late. At this point, we are witnessing fairly well distributed interest across the different size segments, with all of these seemingly being concentrated, as of this point, solely on Chinese Shipbuilders”.

In a separate note, shipbroker Banchero Costa noted that in the container segment, “Danaos Shipping placed an order for two plus optional two 7,100 teu units at Dalian Shipbuilding. The two firm units will be delivered during 2024 and to be methanol ready. Price reported to be $80 mln each. Fujian Mawei received an order from Eastern Pacific Shipping for six plus optional four 2,900 teu with delivery during 2024. MTT Shipping, Malaysia booked two container feeders (abt 1,800 teu) at Penglai Zhongbai Jinglu with units to be delivered during 2024.

In the bulker segment, Taiwanese owners Franbo Lines Corp agreed with Hakodate for two plus optional two 40,000 dwt handysize units for delivery in June and August 2024. Briese Schiffahrts placed an order at Saiki for two 40,000 dwt handies basis delivery end 2023. Another German owner Vogemann picked Jiangsu Dajin to build four 40,000 dwt units. Vessels to be priced at $29.3 mln each with deliveries end 2023-2024”.

Meanwhile, in the S&P market, Allied commented that “on the dry bulk side, the SnP market closed the week with a slight reversal in terms of liquidity, given the relatively mediocre number of units changing hands. Thinking about the general mixed feelings surrounding global markets, this trend of late came hardly as a surprise (to some degree at least). For the time being, we see that the market has found support in terms of volume mostly from the Panamax and Supramax size segments. All-in-all, given the bullish sentiment for the dry bulk market, we can expect things to shift yet again towards a more active phase relatively soon. On the tanker side, the SnP market took a step back as of the past week, given the limited number of vessels being reported as sold as of late. However, taking into account the recent volatility in freight rates, coupled wit the general uncertainty and lack of direction that surrounds this market for some time now, this periodical asymmetry in activity can hardly be seen as a major indicator at this point”, the shipbroker concluded.

Banchero Costa added that “as interesting as active week for the drybulk sector, supported by the paper and physical market. Whilst we are lucking of activity on cape, all the other dry segments resulted of several sales which we are reporting as follows. Minsheng Trust controlled Kamsarmax eco type mv AGRI GRANCE 82,000 dwt built 2017 Jiangsu Newyangzi Shipbuilding (eco type ME and BWTS fitted) is reported sold to Chinese Buyer for $30.5 mln basis delivery Q3 2022 at completion of present BBC. Comparably the younger 2019 Tess 82 mv BW RYE 82,000 dwt blt Tsuneishi Zhoushan is reported sold to Greek clients of Neda Maritime for a price of $37.5 mln.

In the Panamax sector, we are hearing the NILOS 76,000 dwt blt 2006 Tsuneishi Japan (BWTS fitted) may be sold for a price of $18 mln. Another similar 2005 Japanese Panamax is presently under firm negotiation at a price of about $16.5 mln which would reflect market strong trend for this vintage. In the Supramax sector, the chinese owned mv SEACON SINGAPORE dolphin 57 design blt 2013 Taizhou Sanfu achieved a very strong price of $19.45 mln at online/auction sale via chinese platform sale format; she is effectively reported sold to Ningbo Hong Long Shipping”.

“The Tanker market is registering growing action across the various segments. DENSA ORCA about 158,000 dwt blt 2012 HHI is committed to Greek buyers, allegedly Delta Tankers, for a price in the low $33 mln. The Aframax COT mv STENA ARCTICA about 117,000 dwt blt 2005 HHI (ice class 1A) is reported sold for high $14 mln whilst the similar Dalian built mv SRI ASIH 109,000 dwt blt 2005 was sold for region mid $14 mln. In the smaller product tanker sector, the shallow draft handy tanker mv PARAGON about 37,000 dwt blt 2007 SLS was reported sold in the region of $9.25 mln to undisclosed Buyer (we understand the sale was performed couple weeks back)”, Banchero Costa concluded.
Nikos Roussanoglou, Hellenic Shipping News Worldwide