19 September 2018

GMS Market Commentary on Shipbreaking in Week 37 - CURIOUS SPECULATION!


Some extraordinarily speculative sales were registered this week as a few Cash Buyers (ones rumored to have fresh access to funding) seem intent on bidding well ahead of the market, in anticipation of firming rates ahead. This move was probably initiated last week with the high priced sales of a Cape and a VLCC on an ‘as is’ basis, at some massive numbers that are certainly not reflective of current market realities. In fact, all markets have displayed worrying signs of a possible decline in preceding weeks, making much of the recent offerings highly confusing and risky for Ship Owners and Cash Buyers alike.

As it stands, Pakistan remains stuffed with tanker tonnage that have only recently received cutting permission, albeit only on a handful of the plethora of units that were beached several months ago. Furthermore, they have also been beset with an announcement of a ‘mini’ budget, the outcome of which local Buyers are waiting for.

Bangladesh has suffered a week of declines in local steel plate prices and has consequently dropped to lowest placed of all the subcontinent markets. L/C issues have also plagued the industry of late, with very few banks willing to sanction limits on the locally favored large LDT vessels such as VLCCs, Capes and Suezmax tankers.

Wrapping up the subcontinent news is the Indian Rupee, which continues to endure weeks of crippling depreciations in unprecedented and historical lows, trading well over Rs. 72 against the U.S. Dollar, finally settling a touch this week and bringing some much-needed positivity to the local market.

Finally, as China remains marooned in a Neverland of its own making, Turkey is probably the only market to report noteworthy positive gains in both fundamentals i.e. local steel plate prices as well as the Turkish Lira, resulting in firming levels this week.

For week 37 of 2018, GMS demo rankings / pricing for the week are as below.

Demo Rank
Location
Sentiment
Dry Bulk USD/LDT
Containers USD/LDT
Tankers USD/LDT
1
India
Positive
USD 425/LT
USD 445 / LT
USD 435 / LT
2
Pakistan
Stable
USD 420/LT
USD 440/LT
USD 430/LT
3
Bangladesh
Declining
USD 415/LT
USD 435/LT
USD 425/LT
4
Turkey
Firming
USD 250/MT
USD 250/MT
USD 260 / MT


Source: steel guru. 18 Sep 2018

05 September 2018

Ship recycling company expects work to keep coming

WT-LO03-ShipScrapyard476

In this file photo, the former Algoma Central Corp. vessel Algoway is towed into Port Colborne, headed for Marine Recycling Corp.'s yard on the east pier of the Welland Canal. In front is the tug Evans McKeil. - Dave Johnson,The Welland Tribune


With five vessels currently awaiting or undergoing recycling, Marine Recycling Corp. founder Wayne Elliott doesn't see work coming to an end at any time soon in Port Colborne.

"We believe there's work in Canada for us for the next 20 years and beyond," said Elliott in an interview during a tour of the facility on the east pier at the entrance of the Welland Canal.

"We're pretty busy."

The five vessels at the yard include the cement carrier Paul H. Townsend, formerly part of the Inland Lakes Management fleet; the cement carrier English River, formerly part of the Lafarge Ltd. fleet; the medium-sized self-unloading bulk carriers Algorail and Algoway, formerly part of Algoma Central Corp.'s fleet; and the Princess of Acadia, a roll-on/roll-off passenger and motor vehicle ferry that travelled between Digby, N.S. and Saint John, N.B.

In addition to Port Colborne, the company's yard in Sydney, N.S. is busy with recycling vessels as well.

"We're currently focused on warships there … still working some of those and looking at other government bids. We're good and busy."

Elliott's start in the ship recycling business began when he started working summers with his father.

"My dad started with another family in Hamilton in 1959. I learned how to run a crane and use a torch."

In 1983, father and son teamed up and started their own company, carrying out ship conversion work for Upper Lakes Shipping in Hamilton first.

"We came to Port Colborne and started ship breaking … Upper Lakes was our partner at the time. We went on until 1990 when at that point we had cleaned up all of the surplus ships available."

For that seven-year period work was carried out on the east pier of the Welland Canal.

"We went dormant until 1993, and then started up again and have been going ever since."

From 1994 to 1997 recycling work was carried out at a yard off the Grand River in Port Maitland, and from 1997 on the company has been operating in Port Colborne.

"We worked on two submarines and a naval destroyer at Port Maitland."

Elliot said the Port Colborne yard will continue to be busy with at least 12 lakers he knows of slated for recycling, which would take them to the next round of lakers down the road.

"We're here to stay in the lakes and on the East Coast and look forward to another generation of work."

In addition to lakers and naval vessels, Elliott said a new stream of marine recycling through the federal government's abandoned and wrecked vessel program could one day help the company.

"We've heard different numbers … there could be 2,000 abandoned vessels in Canada, mostly pleasure craft, sailboats, wooden boats, plastic boats. Many are sunk or tied to a dock and abandoned."

Figuring out how to deal with and recycle those vessels is something Marine Recycling Corp. is consulting with with federal agencies like Transport Canada, Public Works, Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard.

"Department of Fisheries and the Coast Guard have their own vessels that need to be retired and recycled … vessels beyond their ideal date of service."

Elliott said in talks with the federal government, the company has been encouraged to set up on Canada's West Coast and is exploring its options and potential locations.

"There hasn't been a ship recycling company out there for the last 25 years. There are a lot of ships out there, ferries and other vessels and there are no options for recycling them."

He said there's no way to justify an ocean tow across the Pacific to recycling yards in Asia, and added Canada has decided its own vessels won't leave the country to be recycled.

Elliott said Chinese yards will stop taking foreign vessels and that many of those yards took a big hit like Marine Recycling did when the scrap market crashed in 2015 reaching an all-time 50 year low.

"The Chinese will only do Chinese-flagged vessels now," he said, adding many of yards there were doing things right when it came to safety and the environment.

Elliott said taking apart and recycling a ship is not easy and there are many precautions around safety and the environment that come into play.

Work on the Princess of Acadia in terms of asbestos abatement will cost the company at least $1 million.

"It's one of the largest asbestos abatement jobs we've ever hard. We knew that at bid time though. We do a thorough inspection of the vessels. The single biggest thing in our experience in terms of both the time it takes and the cost is asbestos, it always has been.

"We're really an environmental company," he said.

In addition to asbestos, Marine Recycling crews have to be aware of and properly remove and dispose of things PCBs, oils, fuel, chemicals, grease, and paint. Samples and testing programs are carried out so the company knows what it is dealing with inside a vessel.

"There's a format we go through."

Having vessels docked along the canal makes it easier for crews to get on board and remove everything that needs to be before a ship is ever cut apart.

In places like Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan, vessels are broken on the shore with the vessel still in the water and the stern, where many potential contaminants are located, the last piece to be recycled, said Elliott.

"Alongside the docks here we can deal with the pollutants first."

As to why companies, including Canadian ones, will sell their vessels for scrap overseas to scrapyards in countries like Turkey, it comes down to money.

"They can pay more and absorb the ocean tow, which I find surprising."

The rules in terms of both safety and the environment are lax as compared to Canada, as are the wages, he added.

"We can never compete with the low wages and conditions of those yards. We can't change our standards or cutback when it comes to safety and the environment … it's against our company culture."

Elliott said safety is taken very seriously at both recycling yards, it comes first.

"We can't have our people injured. Our guys are very conscious and aware of what they are doing. One day there may be a stairway heading down (inside a ship) and the next it might be gone."

The most serious incident involving an employee and injury in Port Colborne took place in 2004. A chain anchor moved and trapped the 21-year-old man inside. It took Port Colborne Fire and Emergency Services and firefighters from Buffalo Fire Department's heavy rescue company five hours to free the man, who ended up with a broken lower leg and foot.

Elliott said every precaution is taken when employees are dealing with the removal of various contaminants, as well.

"We remove things that our guys could snag and rip their environmental suits on during asbestos removal."

He said that's why people may not see much in the way of progress when a vessel is brought in to Port Colborne.

There are up to 25 employees working to remove everything inside first.

"It could take months and months and the shape of the ship doesn't change. There's a method to our madness of how we work in the yard."

Weather also plays a part when it comes to taking apart the vessels.

"We have to tie them up like there's a hurricane coming. We have 300-ton capacity cranes and we have to watch when we are lifting and moving very large pieces … they act like sails."

Elliott said the company has an expansion plan for the Port Colborne yard and is working with the city and St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp. to use more of the land on the pier.

That plan, he said, would allow the company to take more work on as it develops new technology to take apart the ships. Part of the plan would also see mostly whole vessels pulled from the water and taken apart on land.

"This is something we have been working on for a long time. Our main constraint here is berth space."

As to where all of the scrap metal goes once on shore, Elliott said for the next couple years it will head to Stelco's Lake Erie Works in Nanticoke. The steel from the vessels is a mild steel the company can use.

"Our non-ferrous metals go to other Canadian metal manufacturers. We've had these relationships for a long time."

Source: the standards. 03 September 2018

Making business do the right thing - NGO Shipbreaking

WHAT IS THE ISSUE?

The vast majority of ship owners do not take responsible decisions when getting rid of their old ships. Instead, they sell their vessel to scrap dealers known as cash buyers. These companies, such as GMS, Wirana and Best Oasis, offer ship owners the highest price – in cash – for end-of-life vessels. They will manage the ship on its last voyage, as well as rename and reflag it, often to the worst performing flags in the world as part of their business model. Registering also the ships under anonymous post box companies, it becomes challenging for authorities to hold cash buyers accountable for their illicit business practices. Ship owners, on the other hand, will claim that their responsibility ended once the deal was concluded with the cash buyer.

Ship owners’ evident lack of due diligence when selling to cash buyers is, however, starting to concern not only law enforcers, but also the clients and the financers of shipping. Companies are increasingly asked to make sure that their business, including their supply chain, does not breach international human rights standards and does not cause harm to the environment.

Faced with this demand – and often with a much more public profile than most ship owners – banks, pension funds and consumer brands, upon which international shipping depends, are taking steps to require responsible ship recycling.

DENOUNCING GREENWASHING AND EXPLORING MARKET-BASED INCENTIVES

The Platform has continued to name and shame companies that do not have responsible practices at end-oflife and was invited in 2017 to share its findings and opinions at a number of industry conferences and meetings.

We have continued to explore market-based financial incentives and have focused our efforts on introducing a market-based program to change company behaviour to a wide range of stakeholders, collecting and processing valuable feedback. Companies have so far been very receptive to the positive reinforcement approach, juxtaposed by the Platform’s other campaign work. We also extended our outreach to other NGO’s, associations, and environmental programs to explore strategic partnership opportunities with those that are already well established in the marketplace. By denouncing the double standard and green-washing of dirty and dangerous shipbreaking practices that would never be allowed in the major ship owning countries, the Platform has been able to counter the arguments of the shipping industry and cash buyers that wish to exploit workers and the environment for the sake of higher profits. The proliferation of the misleading Statements of Compliance with the Hong Kong Convention has in that context been raised as a serious concern.

PROMPTED ENGAGEMENT FROM FINANCIERS

We have continued our discussions with the clients of shipping as well as the financial sector, and were successful in prompting a closed roundtable discussion between the Dutch banks ING, ABN AMRO and NIBC and progressive Scandinavian investors, including pension fund KLP, and major shipping banks DNB and Nordea. The banks now work jointly to promote responsible ship recycling and negotiate clauses to that aim in the loan agreements they sign with shipping companies.

KLP and Norges Bank, which manages the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, have divested from four shipping companies, including container-liner

Evergreen, that have sold ships to the beaching yards. The financial institutions rely on the Platform’s data to screen the companies/holdings that they invest in or provide loans to, and use the information we provide on conditions at the yards in South Asia.

FOCUS ON HUMAN RIGHTS DUE DILIGENCE

In discussion with lawyers, NGOs and United Nations representatives, the Platform has contributed to the ongoing debate on Business and Human Rights. Compensations claims put forward, and investor divestments have clearly identified the responsibility of shipping companies to ensure the safe and clean recycling of their assets, and the Platform has raised with ship owners the necessity of exercising due diligence when choosing business partners linked to their operations, including at end-of-life. By engaging with ship recycling facilities directly and promoting best practice, the Platform also informs the shipping industry of clean and safe options available.

Source: steel guru. 24 August 2018

Ghost ship in Myanmar waters was heading to Bangladeshi ship-breaking yard


Myanmar Navy says


A stranded vessel empty of crew and goods that was found in Myanmar's waters this week was being towed by a ship with 13 Indonesian nationals for a ship-breaking factory in Bangladesh before it became unmoored, the Myanmar Navy said.

Fishermen came across the rusted and empty vessel, bearing the name “Sam Rataulangi PB 1600”, drifting in the Gulf of Martaban, about 11 kilometres (seven miles) off the coast of Myanmar's commercial capital.

Myanmar Navy personnel boarded the vessel to investigate the situation this week, and shed some light on their search in a post on the navy's official Facebook page late Friday.

“It was the view that the ship could have been towed by another ship after two cables... were found at its head”, the post said.

The navy’s coastal radar records showed the movement of two ships on Sunday and Monday in the Yangon and Sittaung rivers -- which run into the Gulf of Martaban.


Based on these findings, the navy scoured the waters for a second ship and found the “Independence” vessel, carrying 13 Indonesian crew members, about 80 kilometres from Yangon's shores.

After questioning the crew members, the navy discovered that the Independence departed Jakarta on August 13, towing the old vessel bound for a ship-breaking factory in Bangladesh, the Facebook post said.

“They faced bad weather when they arrived south of Yangon River”, the navy said. "The cables attached to the ship broke, and the ship was floating along with the tide and it was difficult to continue its journey."

Old and unseaworthy vessels are often towed to Bangladesh's southern Chittagong region, which houses a thriving ship-breaking industry.

According to the Marine Traffic website, which lists the movements of ships around the globe, the vessel was built in 2001 and had a deadweight of 26,500 tonnes.

The navy said the investigation is ongoing.

An official from the Indonesia Foreign Ministry confirmed today that they had received word of this case and said the embassy in Yangon was handling it.

“It is the boat that was arrested; the Indonesians are just the boat crew,” Lalu Muhammad Iqbal, director at the ministry’s Indonesian citizens protection department, told AFP.

Source: the daily star. 01 September 2018

LOST AT SEA ‘Ghost ship’ with nobody on board is found floating off the coast of Myanmar nine years after it set sail


The 177 metre-long, 26,500 tonnes cargo ship was found without any crew or signs of life

 The empty container vessel Sam Ratulangi PB 1600 was discovered by fishermen

The empty container vessel Sam Ratulangi PB 1600 was discovered by fishermen

A RUSTY "ghost ship" has been discovered floating totally abandoned off the coast of Myanmar.

The 177m-long container ship – named Sam Ratulangi PB 1600 – was found 11km from land in the Gulf of Martaban by fishermen last week.

Ship tracking website MarineTraffic last reported the ship's location off the coast of Taiwan, in the South China Sea, in 2009.

Navy authorities have since discovered the mysterious ship, which was sailing under an Indonesian flag, was being towed from its home port of Jakarta to a ship-breaking factory in Bangladesh for scrapping.

 Photographs show the rusting deck of the vessel found floating off Myanmar

Photographs show the rusting deck of the vessel found floating off Myanmar


Crew on the tug-boat abandoned the vessel after encountering bad weather, the BBC reported.

Myanmar Navy personnel found no crew members or goods on the ship after an initial inspection.

They have since confirmed in a Facebook post that the vessel was being towed by a tugboat before becoming unmoored.

The post read: “It was the view that the ship could have been towed by another ship after two cables… were found at its head.”

 It has since been revealed the ghost ship had been on its way to a scrap yard in Bangladesh

It has since been revealed the ghost ship had been on its way to a scrap yard in Bangladesh


Navy authorities located the tugboat sailing 80 kilometres off Yangon City with 13 Indonesian crew on board.

After speaking to the tug workers, navy personnel learnt that the ship had set sail from Jakarta on August 13.

According to the Facebook post, the ship encountered bad weather south of Yangon river.

This resulted in the vessel, which had a dead weight 26,500 tonnes, becoming detached.

 The ship was built in 2001

The ship was built in 2001

Source: the sun. 3 September 2018

Iconic US ship to be recycled

uss tripoli web
USS Tripoli was in the US Navy for almost 30 years


The USS Tripoli (LPH-10) has concluded her final voyage and will now be dismantled and recycled by International Shipbreaking, part of leading metal recycler the EMR Group.

The 13,000 t IWO JIMA class amphibious assault ship served in the US Navy for almost 30 years before being decommissioned in 1995. This included three deployments during the Vietnam War as well as integral role in the Persian Gulf.

International Shipbreaking is one of the world’s leading green ship recycling companies with three specialist facilities in Texas, New Orleans and Louisiana. It has recycled more than 400 ships and marine structures

Chris Green, senior manager of the Brownsville facility in Texas, said: “The USS Tripoli has significant sentimental meaning to the men and women who served our country and spent a part of their lives with her. She will be recycled in a safe, respectful and environmentally responsible manner.”

Work is underway to recycle the 184 m (600 ft) ship and the operation is expected to take around a year to complete.

Source: KHL. 26 July 2018

Gujarat: 2 labourers fall to death while dismantling ship


“The labourers were doing the dismantling work at the height of an eight-storey building on a ship. While working on the ship, they fell down. They were rushed to the government hospital in Talaja town but doctors declared them dead on arrival,” said a police official.

Two labourers died after they fell from a ship they were dismantling at Alang-Sosiya Ship Recycling Yard (ASSRY) on the Bhavnagar coast on Friday. No other injuries have been reported after the incident, police said. According to Alang marine police, the incident took place at around 11 am when the labourers fell down while dismantling a ship on plot number 103 of the yard.

“The labourers were doing the dismantling work at the height of an eight-storey building on a ship. While working on the ship, they fell down. They were rushed to the government hospital in Talaja town but doctors declared them dead on arrival,” ST Maheshwari, police sub-inspector of Alang told The Indian Express.

The two victims have been identified as Budhabhai Kudecha of Alang village in Bhavnagar and Aliahmed Ansari of Jharkhand.
“We are investigating circumstances under which the two labourers fell down from the ship and died. No offence has been registered so far,” Maheshwari said.

Source: indian express. 01 September 2018

Nigeria must remove abandoned vessels from its waters


News that some three thousand abandoned and disused ships are littering Nigeria’s coasts and waterways only serves to underline the toxic mix of environmental neglect, institutional paralysis and security failure that has come to characterise the national predicament.

Nigeria is one of the most comprehensive junkyards in the world. Its roads and expressways are littered with unserviceable vehicles that have often been there for years. Its major airports are full of disused aircraft. Its markets teem with fake and pirated products. Far too many of its oilfields are ecological disasters. It has even served as a dumping-ground for toxic waste, as exemplified in the Koko tragedy of 1988.

Now, the thousands of rusting hulks defacing the nation’s waters have made their unwelcome presence felt. Apparently attracted by lax regulation and virtual non-enforcement, unscrupulous shippers have hit upon the tactic of dumping clapped-out vessels in Nigerian waters, instead of undertaking the costly and complicated process of dismantling them properly.

Apart from being unsightly blots which detract from the natural beauty of Nigeria’s shoreline, these wrecks pose a very real threat, given that so many are dumped in heavily-used shipping lanes. They often block the natural flow of water, thereby accelerating erosion and flooding in coastal settlements.

They leak oil and poisonous chemicals into the water, killing fish and other marine life, and cause great loss for fishing communities that are dependent upon the sea for their livelihoods. Their very presence is a troubling indicator of the increased lawlessness of Nigeria’s coasts, which are now ranked among the most dangerous on the continent.

Neither the Nigerian Navy nor the Nigerian Maritime and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has been able to curb the menace of ship-dumping in Nigerian waters. In 2011, the number of shipwrecks was put at about 100. The fact that there are now some 3,000 vessels points to a failure of the organisations entrusted with the responsibility of keeping the country’s waters free of wrecks.

The navy has been particularly disappointing in this regard. In spite of its regular patrols aimed at illegal oil-bunkering, smuggling and piracy, it has apparently been singularly unable to apprehend those who dump unserviceable ships in the act. NIMASA, too, cannot be exonerated from blame. The agency appears to have paid far too much attention to the juicier parts of its remit to the detriment of this menace. It cannot claim ignorance of the growing numbers of shipwrecks littering Nigerian coasts, nor should it expect praise now that it has belatedly become aware of the problem now that there are thousands of them.

Given the urgency of the country’s shipwreck situation, it is imperative that relevant laws like the Merchant Shipping Act of 2007 be enforced strictly. This means identifying existing shipwrecks where possible, tracing their owners and imposing penalties that will cover the cost of removing them. Greater attention must be paid to the enforcement of ship-handling and berthing procedures. The navy must be given greater resources to enable it to do its job more effectively.

Efficient monitoring systems should be set up, involving satellite reconnaissance and naval patrols of coastal communities. The moment a shipwreck is reported, it should trigger a comprehensive response aimed at apprehending those who dumped it before they are able to escape. Rewards for assistance in catching ship-dumpers might turn apathy into diligence.

Nigeria might also consider the possibility of establishing an integrated ship-breaking industry as a component of its shipping development policy. Unlike the unsavoury manifestations in India and Pakistan, this would be an ecologically-safe, labour-intensive business.

It would incorporate the dismantling of unserviceable vessels, the recovery of valuable metals and other products, and their recycling into useful material. It would also have the virtue of offering viable legal employment in the volatile Niger Delta and other coastal communities, provide a source of much-needed raw materials, stimulate industrial development, and turn a criminal activity into a profitable business.

Source: the nation online ng. 16 August 2018

‘Beaching’ of vessels for shipbreaking – legal, illegal or somewhere in between?


Commercial vessels have a ‘lifespan’ and when they reach the end of it, they are recycled. The European Commission estimates that up to 1,000 ships are recycled each year world-wide.

In addition to valuable and re-useable products like steel, ships also contain hazardous waste and pollutants that are harmful to people and the environment. There has been increasing public and political concern over the practice of some shipbreaking facilities to ram vessels onto tidal flats where workers break down the vessels in ways that are dangerous for the workers and damaging to the environment. To address the hazards, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) adopted the Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally sound Recycling of Ships.

The Hong Kong Convention provides a ‘cradle-to-grave approach’ – a system of control and enforcement over a ship’s lifetime from design, through construction, operation and up to the recycling stage. The Convention establishes mandatory requirements on shipowners to ensure the safe and environmentally sound recycling of ships. The Convention also applies to Ship Recycling Facilities. In general, the Convention requires Facilities “to establish management systems, procedures and techniques which do not pose health risks to workers or the population in the vicinity of the Facility and which will prevent, reduce, minimize and to the extent practicable eliminate adverse effects on the environment caused by Ship Recycling.”

Adopted in 2009, the Hong Kong Convention is not yet in force. Entry into force will only occur 24 months after ratification by 15 States, representing 40 per cent of world merchant shipping by gross tonnage. Today the Hong Kong Convention has been ratified by only six nations – Belgium, the Congo, Denmark, France, Norway and Panama.

Shipping is global and the ideal way to ensure a uniform approach to ship recycling is by an international convention. Uniformity provides certainty and an even playing field, reducing the financial incentives for practices that endanger people and the environment. Yet the ratification process can be painfully slow. The European Union partially filled the gap by regulating ship recycling based on terms modeled on the Hong Kong Convention. The EU regulations apply to vessels that are flagged in the EU irrespective of where the recycling takes place.

The EU Ship Recycling Regulation entered into force in 2013. One of the principal components of the Regulation is the certification of facilities, the so-called “European List” of approved facilities which meet the requirements of the Regulation (and consequently would also meet the requirements of the Hong Kong Convention). The first “European List” of approved facilities was adopted by the Commission in December 2016. It then included 18 shipyards, all located in the EU. The list was updated in May 2018 and now includes 21 shipyards.

The European Commission has received applications from shipyards outside of the EU and the applications are pending.

As of 1 January 2019 all large sea-going vessels sailing under an EU Member State flag are required to use one of the approved ship recycling facilities. The majority of ships, however, are recycled at sites outside of the EU and mostly in South Asian sites where the vessels are ‘beached’ and broken up largely by hand.

Commonly, ships are sold to buyers who reflag and may then have the financial incentive to recycle at a site outside of the EU where the vessel is beached and dismantled in conditions that do not meet the EU standards. On the face of it, this seems to be legal because the vessel is not flagged in an EU country after sale – but beware. The Rotterdam District Court held a Dutch company responsible for breach of the EU Waste Shipment Regulation when the shipowner sold to a buyer who then sent the vessels for scrapping on beaches in South Asia.

The court found that when the ships left the ports of Rotterdam and Hamburg in 2012, the intention was already to demolish the ships which qualified the ships as “waste”, even though they were still seaworthy, certified, insured and operational.

A shipowner who sells a vessel at the end of its lifespan to a buyer who then contracts for shipbreaking at a facility that beaches may not be breaking the law. Nonetheless, there can be reputational and even financial consequences. Ships can be easily tracked to their final destination and a non-governmental organisation (NGO) may ‘name and shame’ the vessel owner despite the fact that the recycling contract is made by the buyer. Media is quick to pick up such stories. Increasingly, investors are also shifting away from companies whose ships end up beached and dismantled in conditions that are harmful to workers and the environment.

So, to conclude, the practice of beaching vessels for recycling is illegal in parts of the world and for all European flagged ships. While the practice may not at this time be illegal in other circumstances, Owners who sell end of life ships to buyers knowing that such buyers are likely to dismantle the ship in an unsafe and environmentally unsound manner, may, at the least, face reputational risk. At the worst, such sellers may find themselves charged with violation of waste shipment regulations.

Source: Hellenic shipping news. 16 August 2018

GMS Market Commentary on Shipbreaking in Week 35 - FOURTH QUARTER FLOURISH?!


Following the conclusion of Eid holidays, unlike Turkey, in Pakistan and Bangladesh this week, prices and demand started to improve with some frisky numbers being promptly put forth by bullish Cash Buyers who are already confident of a market returning to form. At long last, the issuance of cutting permissions on wet tonnage in Pakistan increases resale options for tanker owners and provides competition to the somewhat isolated Bangladeshi (and to a small extent, Indian) market for large LDT / VLCC sized units. There are however, a number of large LDT tankers / VLCCs still blocking space at recycling yards in Pakistan and it will expectedly take several more months (after cutting gets under way) for recycled product to shift from yards and demand to fully return.

Meanwhile, several VLCCs have also been beached in Bangladesh over recent tides and large Dollar value L/C capabilities for a growing number of local Recyclers is getting notoriously tougher, making the overall acquisition of large LDT vessels a particularly precarious proposition for Cash Buyers at present.

India too has endured some worrying moments on local steel plate prices over the past week, but has overall gained almost USD 10/LDT, after the recent volatility witnessed during July and early August.

Finally, both Turkey and (especially) China remain on the sidelines as they remain woefully off the subcontinent offerings, as nearly no news of vessels heading to Turkey has been forthcoming this week, with China almost hitting a stage of absolute irrelevance. As we head into September and subcontinent activity starts to ramp up again, there still remains a pinching shortage of supply. As such, we can expect to see some heated competition over some of the premium vessels that will come available during the fourth quarter of the year.

For week 35 of 2018, GMS demo rankings / pricing for the week are as below.

Demo Rank
Location
Sentiment
Dry Bulk USD/LDT
Containers USD/LDT
Tankers USD/LDT
1
Bangladesh
Positive
USD 420/LT
USD 445 / LT
USD 435 / LT
2
India
Positive
USD 415/LT
USD 440/LT
USD 430/LT
3
Pakistan
Positive
USD 410/LT
USD 435/LT
USD 425/LT
4
Turkey
Weak
USD 230 / MT
USD 230/MT
USD 240 / MT
5
China
Weak
USD 160/ LT
USD 180/LT
USD 170 / LT


Source: steel guru. 4 August 2018