S & P

Another busy week for the Dry S+P market with Greeks being once again the front runners.

The Japanese-controlled kamsarmax M/V MICAELA DELLA GATTA (82,790 dwt 2006 blt Tsuneishi) understand is sold to Geek buyers for circa US$ 18m.

In the panamax segment, the Eiko Kisen controlled M/V CREST VOYAGER (76,255 dwt 2005 blt Tsuneishi Zosen) reported sold to Greeks US$ 15,9m.

The M/V PANAMAX CHALLENGER (78,000 dwt 2013 blt Sanoyas) reported sold to undisclosed buyers for US$ 29m.

Following their arrest by Commerzbank in early February, the panamaxes M/V KING COAL (72,873 dwt 1997 blt CSBC) and M/V FEARLESS I (73,427 dwt 1997 blt Hyundai) have been sold at auction in Hong Kong. The first understand is sold to Greek buyers for US$ 6.25m while the later to Chinese at US$ 6.7m.

In the handymax sector, the mid 90’s built vessels have seen some activity. The M/V HONESTY OCEAN (47,240 dwt 1997 blt Oshima) has been committed to Greek interests at US$ 8.25m while for M/V ROBERT SCHULTE (48,225 dwt 1997 blt Oshima) undisclosed buyers have paid US$ 8.5m. The M/V C.EMERALD (42,174 dwt 1994 blt Oshima) is sold for US$ 6.5m.

The Capital Ship Management controlled M/V SAN SIMEON (29,302 dwt 1997 blt Hudong) is understood to have been sold to an undisclosed buyer for a price of circa US$ 5m.

The M/V AFRICAN ORYX (23,935 dwt 1997 blt Shanghai) has been sold by clients of Seanergy Maritime to undisclosed buyers for levels of region US$ 4 million with SS/DD due.

In the Tanker S+P market, the AET’s VLCCs “EAGLE VALENCIA” (306,999 dwt 2005 blt Samsung) and “EAGLE VENICE” (309,164 dwt 2005 blt Samsung) reported committed at region US$ 40m each to Greek buyers. In the MR sector, a pair of IMO 3 ice class 1A product carriers, the M/T IVORY POINT and M/T INDIGO POINT (50,922 dwt 2007 blt STX) reported sold to Greek buyers for US$46.5m enbloc.

NEWBUILDING

Although this week has seen limited reported ordering, the newbuilding market remains active with on‐going discussion across the majority of conventional sectors and a further tightening of available shipyard capacity for delivery next year. What orders there have been this week have primarily been focussed on the large product tanker sector. Further to the total of around 25 MR tanker orders reported since the new year, with an additional six 37,000 DWT coated tankers also having been contracted, the larger LR2 orderbook has also now grown by ten vessels this year taking the total orderbook in this sector to 17 vessels.

This week saw Scorpio Tankers announce a continued expansion of their product tanker orderbook with four firm 114,000 DWT LR2 Tankers at Hyundai Samho. Although pricing was undisclosed, delivery is understood to be for the second half of 2014. This brings the owner’s number of orders for LR2s at the yard to a total of six firm vessels. In addition, Scorpio also confirmed a further two 114,000 DWT LR2 orders at DSME for delivery in the fourth quarter of 2014, which included an unspecified number of options. This continues to expand Scorpio’s orderbook which, including the aforementioned orders, now stands at a total of 33 product tankers. It is interesting to note that the majority of these orders are due for delivery in 2014 with the exception of one MR due for delivery this year which remains from their last set of orders in the first quarter of 2012. The total number of deliveries in the MR sector now lined up for 2014 is only surpassed by the delivery levels seen in 2008 and 2009.

In other sectors, Clients of Ray Shipping placed an order for 4 firm 7,500 unit PCTCs at Hyundai Mipo. Delivery is planned from the fourth quarter of 2014 with reported pricing at USD 70.25 Mill per vessel. This increases the buyer’s orderbook to a total of ten vessels with four similar sized 7,000 unit PCTCs already on order at Hyundai Mipo and a further two 4,900 unit PCTCs at Ha Long Shipyard in Vietnam. This time last year, 2012 had seen no new orders in this sector, however through the remainder of the year the PCTC sector saw a significant boost in ordering with t total of 26 new vessels being contracted.