GMS weekly report on shipbreaking industry for WEEK 9 of 2011:

After 10 long excruciating months of absence from the industry, positive news finally emanated from the Bangladeshi market on March 7th 2011 as the Bangladesh High Court opened up the domestic ship recycling sector, albeit with a handful of mandatory requirements being imposed.

As demand and prices are expected to surge from Bangladesh (and perhaps from the rest of the competing markets in an attempt to remain competitive), the near future seems to have busy scribbled in the tea leaves.

This may not be a bad tiling as, in terms of supply of tonnage, large LDT dry units continue to be introduced into the market as charter rates on the dry side showed few signs of improving. Capsize, Panamax and Handymax bulkers have proved to be the flavor of the present (as has been the case for the first two months of the year) and with available candidates continuing to outstrip open buyers, the competing markets have struggled to absorb the volume over the recent past. Perhaps India and Pakistan's struggles to absorb the abundance of available candidates and China continuing its downward trend in prices once again last week, may now be offset as Bangladesh's return is expected to stabilize the competition and set prices moving again.

On the sales front, word surfaced last week of two single hull Frontline VLCCs reportedly sold for recycling, with one cash buyer supposedly snapping up the TICEN SUN and FRONT ACE (about 32,000 LDT each) for USD 31.5 million enbloc. One of these units has been taken by TITAN from Singapore on storage.

Last week in Dubai, Tradewinds wrapped up their annual Ship Recycling Conference, which attracted players from across the recycling industry. With key figures from IMO and European commission along with major industry players in attendance, it remained a relatively quieter week for the industry in terms of market sales.

For week 9 of 2011, GMS demo rankings for the week are as below:

Country          Market Sentiment                    GEN Cargo prices        TANKER Price

India              Volatile      USD 465/lt ldt         USD 495/lt ldt

Pakistan         Volatile      USD 455/lt ldt         USD 485/lt ldt

China             Volatile      USD 430/lt ldt         USD 4601t ldt

Bangladesh     Bullish       N/A                       N/A

Source: SteelGuru (Sourced from GMS Weekly). Wednesday, 09 Mar 2011

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