Shipping: 2014 started much better than anyone had predicted

By Harry Vafias

www.stealth.gr 

2014 started much better than anyone had predicted especially for the crude tanker owners! Owners with spot trading afras, suezmaxes and VLCC’s made some nice profits over the last 60 days. On top of that we see values for modern crude ships of all sizes firming...

Lets examine what has happened in the Newbuildings front over the last month. Diana ordered one more kamsarmax in sinopacific, sinotrans agreed to build 4 ultramaxes in jinling and greathorse added 3 more of the same type at chengxi (they have now 6 ultramaxes on order)!. Wisdom also went for ultramaxes in imabari (three) while jadroplov have signed for four 37,000 dwt handies at 3 maj. Trafigura ordered 4 opt 2 newcastlemaxes in Qingdao yangfan while alpha tankers went for 3 capes at Hyundai. Klaveness declared their 5^th and 6^th kamsarmax option in new yangzijiang and they also ordered two 80,000 dwt combo carriers in Zhejiang ouhua. Damico declared two options for ultramax in Zhejiang (making 6 in total) while Lauritzen ordered two ultramaxes in DACKS and two in imabari. Pioneer went to taizhou snafu for two firm 38,000 dwt handies   while oldendorff agreed with hantong to build two option two 208,000 dwt bulkers and declared one option for same type ship in Jiangsu new yangzijiang and two options in taizhou catic!!! The reuben bros agreed with sundong to build four option two kamsarmaxes while blue wall went to qingshan for two option two 43,000 dwt handymaxes. Oldendorff also declared two options for kamsarmaxes and three options for handies in jinling so excluding their newcastlemaxes they also have six kamsarmaxes and 9 handies on order!!! Newcastlemaxes were also chosen by bocimar, they placed two of those and one cape at imabari and also declared two options for handy bulkers at weihai samjin making a total of 12, while the imabari was chosen by wisdom who ordered two kamsarmaxes there and they also declared an option for a third 55,000 dwt bulker at Kawasaki.

DHT declared a third VLCC in Hyundai while lyras ordered two opt one LR2’s at sungdong. Odfjell went to new times for two LR1’s and trafigura declared options for four MR’s at GSI making 8 in total! Dalian ocean agreed with DACKS to build a single VLCC. Metrostar exercised options for their 5^th and 6^th VLCC in Hyundai and marflet have ordered two MR’s in 3 maj. Last but not least Capital ordered two VLCC’s at Daewoo.

Lets move on with the 2^nd hand dry sales. Marmaras paid $46,5 mill for a cape resale ex jinhai while two more resale capes ex beihai were sold for the same price (rumoured to transmed).  The ‘mineral pearl’ 81,000 dwt built 13 china got $27 mill, the ‘grand diva’ 76,000 dwt built 07 japan got $21,5 mill while the ‘orient rise’ 56,000 dwt built 10 china 4x30 got $21,5 mill. The ‘cs solaris’ 28,000 dwt built 01 japan 4x30 got $13 mill, the ‘carl oldendorff’ 32,000 dwt built 02 japan 4x30 fetched $14 mill while the ‘cynthia pioneer’ 23,000 built 09 japan 4x30,5 got $15 mill. Asia pacific paid $122 mill to buy enbloc 4 ultramaxes ex jinling while the ‘dietrich oldendorff’ 63,000 dwt built 13 dayang 4x35 got $31 mill. The ‘far eastern venus’ 53,000 dwt built 06 japan 4x30 got $20,5 mill  while the deiulemar fleet consisting of 4 capes and 8 kamarmaxes/panamaxes got sold to augustea-bunge-york JV for $113 million. The ‘sanko power’ 180,000 dwt built 10 japan got sold to ofer for $50 mill, the ‘michelle damato’ 76,000 dwt built 05 japan got $23 mill and the ‘aoyama’ 56,000 dwt built 06 japan 4x30,5 got $22 mill from pacific basin. The ‘conches’ 180,000 dwt built 11 sungdong got $52 mill from fredriksen while star bulk acquired the ‘gl qushan / gl dai shan’ both 98,000 dwt built 11 china for $60 mill enbloc with TC attached at for 3 years at $15k daily. The ‘chengyang pioneer’ 76,000 dwt built china got $27 mill while eastmed paid $60 mill to buy ‘sanko mermaid / sanko mercury / sanko marble’ all 50,000 dwt built 09/10/10 japan 4x40, open hatch types.

Lets conclude with the tanker sales. Excluding the Maersk VLCC fleet that got sold to euronav for shade below $1 billion  we hear abt lots of buyers and US funds chasing crude assets.. the ‘hero’ 156,000 dwt built 11 china got $50 mill while the  LR1 ‘elegant Victoria’ 75,000 dwt built 07 japan got $27,5 mill from prime and eletson paid $22 mill for the ‘anna victoria’ 75,000 dwt built 04 korea. The 06 built ‘seamaster’ 106,000 dwt china got $24 mill from thenamaris while DHT bought the ‘gulf sheba / gulf eyadah’ both 300,000 dwt built 07/06 china for $99 mill enbloc. The ‘prisco alcor’ 166,000 dwt built 07 korea sold to bumi armada for $41 mill while the ‘scf byrranga / scf aldan’ both 160,000 dwt built 05 korea got $70 mill enbloc form Minerva. The metrostar MR newbuilds are rumoured to be all sold (10) to Wilbur ross while the ‘ocean leo’ 47,000 dwt built 10 japan non imo got $29 mill from UACC.