 |
Labourers break down pieces of metal at the Alang Ship Recycling Yard in the state of Gujarat, India. Photo: PA
|
The number of container ships being headed for
demolition has almost halved year on year as charter rates, especially for
Panamaxes, have improved substantially.
IHS Maritime's Sea-web.com data shows that year to
date, 39 container ships have been recycled, almost half of the 77 container
ships that were recycled during the same period in 2014.
Keyur Dave, finance chief at Singapore-based cash
buyer Wirana Shipping Corporation, told IHS Maritime that he does not expect a
deluge of container ships to be offered for demolition in 2015.
"Charter rates for container ships have gone up
a lot and due to this, owners are not so keen to sell vessels for scrap,"
said Dave.
Charter rates for Panamax container ships have
improved from less than USD10,000 per day to more than USD17,000, as high
scrapping in 2013-14 removed a lot of tonnage from the market.
Sea-web.com indicates 187 container ships were
scrapped in 2013 and 159 in 2014.
Dave expects Capesizes to account for the majority of
scrapped ships in 2015, as freight rates show no sign of a sustained recovery.
BIMCO analyst Peter Sand said the demolition of
container ships in 2013-14 focused on Panamax and sub-Panamax ships.
"The first peak in container scrapping came in
2009 as the financial crisis started to take effect," Sand said. "A
total of 378,000 teu was scrapped that year, more than the previous 10 years
put together. The two following years marked by high activity in 2009 resulted
in a substantial lower scrapping of container vessels. In 2013 the wheels had
turned and container scrapping reached new heights when almost 200
containerships totalling 444,000 teu were scrapped."
Source: his maritime.
36011 May 2015
No comments:
Post a Comment