It's official; more and more ship owners operating in the dry bulk market appear to have developed a newfound optimism in the market's prospects. As a result they are looking to get ready ahead of the market's return to healthier levels, which means opening their pockets to acquire some new bulkers at bargain prices, compared to those prevalent in the years prio to the global financial crisis. According to the latest report from shipbroker Intermodal, which seeks to assess what the first quarter of the year has brought to the dry bulk market, "there has been a revival in appetite for dry bulk carriers, across the whole spectrum, from Capesizes down to Handysizes, both newbuildings and second hand.
According to Intermodal's analyst, Christos Mantzios, "the buying momentum has been building up considerably since mid-January where we saw the 2005-built Mitsui supramax (56kdwt) change hands for mid US$ 15's mil, rising up to beginning of March were a comparable 2006 built Mitsui Supra managed a price of US$17 mil. Prices for high quality Japanese built modern tonnage stabilized and edged up driven by the numerous buyers in the market,many of whom are well-respected names in the industry (not only pure bulker players but some with a diversified fleet),who felt that the time to invest in dry bulk tonnage is now.
What’s more is that this vote of confidence in the dry bulk market was further reinforced by the fact that fresh new building contracts have outflanked deliveries so far this year, spearheaded by big names such as John Fredriksen. Same has penned orders for 36 capesizes at various Chinese Shipyards (the majority) albeit at attractive pricing/terms. This number stood at a sharp contrast to the meager US$ 5,000 per day that capesize spot rates had reached at the end of last week" he said.
Mantzios added that "also worth mentioning is the news that March marked the highest volume of NB ordering that we have seen over the past 3 years. Of these new orders,19 have been with ECO characteristics. It’s worth taking into consideration that although new orders maybe spurring,the orderbook to existing fleet ratio has been rapidly decreasing (48 pct for all type of bulkers in 2012, 28 pct in 2013) with capes and panamaxes showing the biggest improvement. Of course it remains to be seen whether owners can restrain themselves from overindulging themselves, as the lures brought about from the attractive NB prices along with new fuel efficient and more technologically advanced designs are hard to resist" he noted.
The shipbroker also noted that "adding to the resurgence in NB activity,the first quarter of the year noticed an unprecedented dash for secondhand tonnage with supply of modern units (up to 7 years of age) slowly being made available for sale (few vessels on the market at the same time) and Sellers toughening their stance,encouraged by the many “serious” buyers all chasing the same vessels. Another good example is the recent reported sale of “Micaela Della Gatta” (82kdwt blt 2006 Tsuneishi) managed to attract high US$ 17 mil after many buyers inspected her in Australia,when the “Ikan Bayan” albeit smaller (75kdwt) and older (2005 blt Sanoyas) had fetched mid US$ 15's mil in the beginning of the year.
Same has been noticed for 15 years old handymax vessels with most notable the recently reported sale of “Ken”(46kdwt 1998 blt Sanoyas) which went for mid US$ 9's mil with June delivery,when “Global Glory”(45kdwt blt 1998 Tsuneishi) fetched mid US$ 7's mil earlier this year. Therefore it can be safely said that good Japanese built second hand tonnage would find a new home once placed in the market (or privately) after serious interest on her and with figures most likely exceeding last done" he said.
He concluded his argument by noting that "on the backdrop of freight rates that find it hard to sustain any positive momentum despite temporary gains caused by port congestions and sudden spikes in available stems,increased scrapping as a counter balance to the strong volume of deliveries and dropping orderbook to fleet ratio,a significant number of market players find it as an opportunity to take advantage of this market and increase both their NB ordering,while also gradually strengthening the second hand market" he said.
