NEWS

Recently, shipowners in the second-hand ship market are more willing to seek potential investment opportunities, especially in the field of bulk carriers, so that the second-hand ship market activities began to heat up.

According to the latest report of the Shipbroking Intermodal, the activity performance of the second-hand ship market in the first four months of this year has gradually picked up compared with the relatively calm January, especially in the trading situation of second-hand ships and bulk carriers has improved greatly for a long time.

According to George Iliopoulos, a second-hand ship broker, by the end of the first quarter of this year, Greek shipowners had returned to the second-hand ship market and began investing in modern Panamax bulk carriers, Camsar bulk carriers and ultra-smart bulk carriers. Judging from the current market performance, the value of bulk carrier assets is at a turning point. Recently, this trend is particularly evident in the transaction of the 82000 dwt bulk carrier "TORM ISLAND" (built in 2010) built by Japanese shipyards. The selling price of the ship is 18 million US dollars, which is 7% higher than that of its sister ship "TORM TRADER" (built in 2010) sold a month ago. In addition, the "TORM ISLAND" ship had more than 10 potential shipowners to conduct pre-sale inspections of the ship, resulting in a considerable discount on the transaction price of the ship.

At the same time, George Iliopoulos also pointed out that the price of second-hand ships has shown signs of stabilization in the past six months, and the market performance is relatively optimistic, and the latest second-hand ship transactions also show that the market is showing a positive phenomenon. Due to the continuous decline in the price of bulk carrier assets in the past period of time, the bulk carrier market has caused a certain negative pressure, making the future market development difficult to determine, but the market has begun to gradually recover. At the same time, it can be noted that in the sale of modern second-hand ships, the competition between buyers is relatively fierce, resulting in the recent two Camsar bulk carriers being sold at a higher price. However, if compared with the second-hand ship market in the same period last year, the current bulk carrier price is obviously more attractive.

, for example, in April last year, a five-year-old Kamsar bulk carrier built by a Japanese shipyard sold for about $28 million, 55% higher than the average price for the same period this year. At the same time, the number of ultra-flexible bulk carriers to Panamax bulk carriers built by Japanese shipyards, which are 10 years old, is limited in the second-hand ship market, and these ships are expected to trade at prices higher than the current average market price.

contrast, the prices of bulk carriers built by Chinese shipyards in the past month are still at a low level. For example, the 32000 dwt "HUI AN HAI" (built in 2010) costs US $6.8 million, while another ship of the same type, the NEW SAILING STAR (built in 2010), costs less, only US $6.5 million.

brokers pointed out that considering that the pressure of oversupply in the bulk transport market still exists, the price of second-hand ships is still restricted. However, several recent transactions have shown that the second-hand ship market has basically bottomed out or is about to bottom out. The price of second-hand bulk carriers will rise in the future.