As the level of newbuilding contracting will be crucial for the sustained recovery of the dry bulk segment, it’s perhaps good news that the recent flurry of activity was met with a standstill over the course of the past week. In its latest weekly report, shipbroker Allied Shipbroking said that it was “another interesting week in the Newbuilding market, with a considerable flow of new contracts coming to light. After a couple of weeks of heavy ordering being seen in the Dry Bulk sector, things changed rapidly, with new ordering falling back to minimal levels once more. Given the impressive resilience of late in the main Dry Bulk freight market, one would have assumed that interest would have held steady, though given that a fair amount of the total new orders placed thus far have mainly been attributed to a very select few players and with some relying on a more long term project backing approach.

At the same time, given the fact that we are but a breath away from the start of the Chinese New Year festivities, there is an expectation that things should quieten down in the newbuilding market for all vessels types. On the Tanker side of things, there is still a relatively uninspiring level of activity being noted, inline with the subdued climate still being noted in terms of earnings. All-in-all, a balanced level of new ordering took place, with a fair amount being seen on the Containership and Gas Carrier segments as well as from more specialized segments which tend to be more project placed”, Allied said.

In a separate newbuilding report, shipbroker Clarkson Platou Hellas added that “in Dry, Clients of Seatankers Management are reported to have declared an option for two 82,000 DWT Kamsarmax Bulk Carriers at Shanhaiguan. There will be the 3rd and 4th vessel in the series and will deliver in 4Q 2019 and 1Q 2020. In the Gas sector, DSME have received an order for two 173,400 CBM LNG Carriers from BW Gas. The duo are set for delivery within 1H 2020 from Okpo. Hudong Zhonghua have signed a contract for a single 18,600 CBM LNG Bunkering Vessel with MOL for deliver in 2020. This order is against a charter to Total. Hyproc Shipping have extended their series of 13K LPG Carriers at Jiangnan by declaring an option for one additional vessel. Being the 2nd vessel in the series, this unit will be delivered within 2019.

There is one order to report in the Container market, with Samsung winning an order for eight firm 11,000 TEU Container Carriers from Taiwanese owner Evergreen. This series will start to deliver from 1Q 2020 till 2Q 2021 from Geoje, Korea. In other sectors, Scenic Cruises have announced ordering one firm 17,085 GT Cruise Ship at Uljanik Brodogradiliste in Croatia. Delivering in 2020, this vessel will be built to be Ice Class 1A. Finally, Norwegian owner Wilson have signed a contract for two firm 2,600 DWT General Cargo Vessels with Wuxue Janda in China for delivery within 2019”, Clarkson Platou Hellas said.

Meanwhile, in the second hand market, Allied said that “on the dry bulk side, it seems as though we continue to see a slightly softer picture in terms of reported activity, with limited sales reported again this week compared to the levels we have become accustomed to over the past year or so. At the same time we are still seeing the main focus still fixed on the Supramax size segment, with the majority of buyers still showing keen interest here, where they believe a fair amount of opportunity is still available. On the tanker side, there is still limited number of vessels changing hands each week. Things are still under relative pressure, largely in part to the fact that there still seems to be a considerable gap between willing sellers and willing buyers, especially on the more modern tonnage. This explains in part the higher number of older vessels changing hands, while taking a look at the reported VLCCs reported sold this week, the majority of vessels in these larger size segments tend to be around 15 years of age or even older”, the shipbroker concluded.

In a separate note, VesselsValue said this week, that in the dry bulk market, values have firmed across the sector, most notably in Handy tonnage. “An en bloc deal of two Capesize vessels, Mineral Nippon & Rubena N (203,300/203,200 DWT, Mar 2007/Apr 2006, Universal) sold to Winning Shipping for USD 46.3 mil, VV value USD 48.34 mil. Post Panamax Tansanit (92,800 DWT, Sept 2011, COSCO Zhoushan) sold to Interocean for USD 17.2 mil, VV value USD 17.69 mil. Panamax Vika (74,500 DWT, Sept 1999, Sasebo) sold for USD 8.0 mil, VV value USD 7.92 mil. Supramax Albion (58,700 DWT, Dec 2008, Tsuneishi Zhoushan) sold to Thoresen for USD 13.8 mil, VV value USD 13.33 mil. Handy Orient Sunrise (28,500 DWT, May 2001, Kanda) sold for USD 5.7 mil, VV value USD 4.99 million” VV said.