Ship owners postpone decisions on new building orders after dry bulk rates head south
With heavy tonnage supply already plaguing the dry bulk market and the recent devastation in Australia’s Queensland expected to negatively affect freight rates for the months to come, demand for newbuilding orders seems to have been finally retreated, at least until owners evaluate this new state of the market.
The same applies to the second hand market as well, as show by the first reports from shipbrokers on the early days of 2011.
According to Clarksons, “with 2010 now having proven itself to be a much more successful than anticipated year for Shipyards - much speculation abounds with regards to the prospects for 2011! The final portion of last year continued to see a healthy volume of business concluded and following the holiday induced pause, the market continues to push forward and once again we have reports of fresh orders being placed. In Dry - the demand story is starting to soften and the Chinese continue to present themselves as the real value option in the market against their Korean competitors. However, although the Korean yards are now more reluctant to compete with China on Dry - they are certainly there to be aggressive on Tankers, Containers and are placing an increased focus on other specialised sectors such as Offshore.
With internal restructuring of many of the Korean yards - 2011 holds the promise of fresh ideas and this is likely to keep the market interesting - and with the Chinese continuing to push forward, the anticipation remains that certainly the first portion of this year will continue to be active” said Clarksons.
In a separate report, Piraeus-based shipbroker Golden Destiny said that after the weak activity of the last week of December with only 17 vessels reported on order, week ended with strong sentiment in the bulk carrier sector, holding 67% of the total volume of vessels reported on order and vessels of all sizes from postpanamaxes to handysizes being on the forefront. In total, 42 vessels reported on order equalling a total invested capital more than $1,5 bn dollars marked by a massive investment in the offshore sector for construction and jack up drilling rig vessels. “The remarkable order of the week is from a little known Chinese Shipping company Hua Yang International Marine Transportation at China’s biggest privately owned yard, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, for 6 bulk carriers (2 post panamaxes, two handysizes and four handymaxes) for a total price of USD $ 250 million. In addition, George Economou-led Dryships, NASDAQ listed drybulk and offshore player, disclosed that had reached agreement with a South Korean yard / Samsung to purchase six aframax tanker newbuilds (four to be delivered next year, two in 2012) and six suezmax tankers newbuilds (one for delivery next year, two in 2012 and three in 2013), for a total price of USD 770 mil. There are some rumors suggesting that the orders are resales from Economou’s private arm Cardiff Marine but Dryships chief George Economou denies that the tankers are Cardiff Marine sales and claims that there are fresh deals, despite the exact number of ships and almost identical delivery dates as a dozen vessels listed as ordered by Economou’s privately held Cardiff Marine” said Golden Destiny.
In other deals reported from Clarksons: In Dry, Huayang International Transportation have signed a series of 8 bulk carriers at Yangzijiang, made up of 2 x 34K dwt, 4 x 47.5Kdwt and 2 x 92.5Kdwt bulk carriers. These vessels are due for delivery through 2012 and 2013. Guangdong Lanhai Shipping have ordered 8 x 51,000dwt bulk carriers at Taizhou Sanfu which will again deliver in 2012 and 2013. CSL have extended their order at Chengxi with an additional 3 firm units of their 75,000dwt vessels and these are scheduled for delivery in 2013 and 2014. Finally Jinhai heavy has signed a pair of 79,600dwt Kamsarmaxes with a domestic owner and a pair of 176,000dwt Capesize bulkers with a Hong Kong based owner with all ships delivering in 2012 except one of the capes set for delivery in 2013.
In Wet, Sovcomflot have ordered a pair of 320,000dwt VLCCs at Bohai Shipbuilding with the 1 vessel each set for delivery in 2012 and 2013. In Containers, China Navigation are reported to have signed 8 option 8 x 31,000dwt MPPs at Zhejiang Ouhua with deliveries for the firm vessels all scheduled within 2013. Lastly, SITC are reported to have signed 2 x 1,040TEU Container Vessels at Daesun Shipbuilding set for delivery in 2H 2013.