GMS weekly report on Chinese ship breaking industry for WEEK 27 of 2013:

The Chinese market continued its sustained decline with another week of inactivity and dire levels. Having been completely uncompetitive with Indian sub-continent markets of late, very few vessels have made their way to Chinese yards over the past few months.

Indeed, many vessels positioned in the Far East have even found Vietnamese and Indonesian scrap yards more competitive on the price despite the relatively untried and untested route of selling to those yards.

With a dearth of sales of late therefore, there is a growing hunger and demand in Chinese yards. However, local fundamentals (in particular the struggling price of scrap steel) has not allowed Chinese buyers to increase their prices at all.

Source: steelguru. 3 July 2013

http://www.steelguru.com/chinese_news/GMS_weekly_report_on_Chinese_ship_breaking_industry_for_WEEK_27/317288.html

GMS weekly report on Bangladesh ship breaking industry for WEEK 27 of 2013:

A relatively static Bangladeshi market has not been lulled into action by a positive Pakistan budget (coupled with a fairly unspectacular budget of their own).

Indeed, Chittagong buyers seem more concerned with the woes of the Indian market rather than concentrating on their own buying. Additionally, the political upheaval of the past few months coupled with the ongoing monsoon season has seen a softening of demand, levels, and an overall lack of focus on the ship-recycling sector in the country.

One potential sale for the Bangladesh market has been recorded however as the handysize bulker SUN NEW (7,532 LDT), which was sold by Korean owners on 'as is where is' basis at Incheon, Korea with only 150 T bunkers remaining on board. It may of course be that the vessel ends up elsewhere, but the logical call at this stage would be Bangladesh owing to proximity (and lack of bunkers) as opposed to either India or Pakistan.

Source: steel guru. 3 July 2013

http://www.steelguru.com/indian_news/GMS_weekly_report_on_Bangladesh_ship_breaking_industry_for_WEEK_27/317259.html

GMS weekly report on India ship breaking industry for WEEK 27 of 2013:

The unthinkable became reality this week as the Indian Rupee touched an unprecedented and historical low of INR 60.6 to the U.S. Dollar. With the fears of many end buyers finally realized, an absolute halt to the buying activity in India took hold.

The fact that about FIFTEEN percent of the value of end buyer inventories has been wiped out over the course of this disastrous currency slide alone, is both startling and alarming for the immediate future of the domestic ship-recycling industry.

Whilst steel prices remain as volatile as ever and the monsoon season has seen its traditional cooling of demand / aggression to buy, it may be that we see a period of time on the sidelines for Indian recyclers.

Certainly, cash buyers and owners who have been chasing down the market over the past few months are sure to feel the pinch / struggle with deliveries based on present sentiment.

One sale that was confirmed this week saw the bulker TABA (5,467 LDT) sold for a decent USD 404/LT LDT - of course there may likely be a Pakistan option included on the sale to justify such a price.

Source: steel guru. 3 July 2013

http://www.steelguru.com/indian_news/GMS_weekly_report_on_India_ship_breaking_industry_for_WEEK_27/317253.html

GMS weekly report on ship breaking industry for WEEK 26 of 2013:

The Indian currency was the hot topic of conversation this week as the Indian Rupee continued its unprecedented slide, above and beyond the dreaded 60 mark against the US Dollar.

Expectedly, total panic has set into the local market something that filtered through to the international scene as well as most buyers chose to halt any new buying activity until the slide had reversed.

It could be a testing summer if steel prices, currency, and the ongoing political volatility continue to conspire in the Indian sub-continent. Presently, there remains no real incentive for any market to cut loose ahead of the pack - hence the likely reason present levels appear so bunched together currently.

The Pakistan and Bangladesh markets seem to be finding excuses to peg their numbers just above what a deflated Indian market maybe offering at present.

The number of unsold vessels is therefore only slowly starting to dwindle with many cash buyers holding out for a much hoped for recovery before selling at great losses. The general feeling is that the markets have bottomed out this week.

However, that was also the expectation the week before, until the Indian Rupee fell to 60.6 this week.

The monsoon summer months have historically been significantly weaker, in the years gone by it has been well documented that end buyers prefer not to acquire tonnage during this time, due to a shortage of labor and unsatisfactory beaching / cutting procedures during the rainy season.

Filially, China barely struggled to justify a footnote for another week with further poor pricing and sentiment continuing. This has seen the Turkish and even Vietnamese & Indonesian markets, worthy of mentions owing to increased activity and levels on offer in these respective recycling destinations.

For week 26 of 2013, GMS demo rankings for the week are as below:

Country	Market Sentiment	GEN CARGO Prices	TANKER Prices
Pakistan	Cautious	USD 400/lt ldt	USD 425/lt ldt
Bangladesh	Weak	USD 395/lt ldt	USD 420/lt ldt
India	Weak	USD 390/Lt ldt	USD 415/lt ldt
China	Weak	USD 310/lt ldt	USD 320/lt ldt

Source: steel guru. 3 July 2013

http://www.steelguru.com/international_news/GMS_weekly_report_on_ship_breaking_industry_for_WEEK_26/317315.html

GL Software Smoothes Ship Recycling Compliance:

A new software solution has been developed by Germanischer Lloyd (GL) to streamline compliance with the newly adopted European Union regulation on ship recycling. The IHM Green Server (IGS) is a web-based application which aids in the preparation and the maintenance of a vessel's Inventory of Hazardous Materials (IHM). The tool supports shipowners with all of the IHM related aspects of both the EU regulation and the Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships.

The IGS Interaction Model shows how project users can perform tasks and interact throughout the lifecycle of a ship.

The new EU regulation will see a number of measures introduced to ensure that vessels are sustainably and responsibly recycled at the end of their lifecycle. The primary requirements of the regulation for ship owners, which is scheduled to enter into force at the end of the year, are the establishment of an IHM for all EU flagged ships and for all vessels which call at ports within the EU. The regulation is also intended to promote the ratification of the Hong Kong Convention as a global solution to the environmental impact of shipbreaking.

With the new tool the entire volume of ship component data, which are required to be maintained and updated through its entire lifetime, can be comprehensively gathered and processed. From the central web based data repository all of the various parties who need access and are involved in the process of preparation, certification and maintenance of IHM data, such as shipowners, shipyards, suppliers, hazmat experts, class societies and recyclers, can, using the IGS, work in parallel on the same platform. This ensures that the IHM process is transparent, not only to the regulators but to the ship owners, ship yards, and recycler. It gives a real-time overview of individual vessels and the entire fleet under management, while allowing for the smart and efficient management of all the required documentation, e.g. Material Declarations, Supplier Declarations of Conformity and IHM Documents.

Source: MarineLink. 2 July 2013

http://www.marinelink.com/news/compliance-recycling356257.aspx