With no signs of recovery in dry bulk freight rates, ship owners have caved in and sold vessels for demolitions despite scrap prices going south.

Scrap prices are falling in tandem with freight rates as more and more ships are being offered for recycling.

IHS Maritime Sea-web.com data shows that year-to-date, 250 bulkers including 62 Capesizes, have been recycled.

Scrap prices for bulkers, especially Handysizes, now average US$360 per ldt on the Indian sub-continent, down from US400 per ldt a year ago.

Capesizes and Panamaxes managed to fetch better prices due to their sizes.

SwissMarine's 1995-built Capesize bulker Aeolian Glory and Unimor Shipping Agency's 20-year-old Danish-built Panamax bulker Ancona was sold to Bangladesh for US$382 per ldt (US$7,305,750) and US$365 per ldt (USD4,288,750) respectively.

H-Line Shipping, Hanjin Shipping's divested bulk shipping unit, sold its 1992-built Capesize bulker Empress to Pakistan for recycling. The ship fetched US$375 per ldt (US$6,666,375).