GMS weekly report on Indian ship breaking industry for WEEK 09 of 2014:

The oversupply of vessels in the Indian market showed no signs of slowing this week as other owners decided to try and cash in on the exuberant levels on show.

To this end, two sales in particular caught the headlines with the EUROCARGO AFRICA (13,221 LDT) and the handysize bulker MISTRAL (7,231 LDT) achieving extraordinary levels of USD 493 per LT LDT and USD 470 per LT LDT respectively. The full spares on board both vessels contributing in part to the price on this occasion, in addition to the ongoing speculative push on levels.

Meanwhile, the currency remains stable, trading in and around INR 61 to INR 62 against the US Dollar for much of the week and the steel prices remain good to firm, gaining minimal ground (but more importantly, not falling) for much of the week.

The major worry for end buyers and cash buyers alike is the surplus of panamax sized container vessels in the market currently, many of which remain unsold and are arriving shortly. Those cash buyers who chose to take a position on these units will surely be set to lose money unless they are prepared to take over these vessels ‘as is’ and hold for an improvement on levels.

For the part of the end buyers, they are prepared to pick and choose which units they want and it will be the cash buyer that bows to those levels that may set a new precedent in the market.

Source: steel guru. 4 March 2014

http://www.steelguru.com/international_news/GMS_weekly_report_on_Indian_ship_breaking_industry_for_WEEK_09/333925.html