A considerable slowdown in secondhand activity

Intermodal Shipping Monthly Recap

 Secondhand Market (Total vessels sold this month: 92)

July showed signs of a considerable slowdown in secondhand activity pointing to even further decreases in buying interest and a fairly soft August on the way. With earnings lacking any real optimism it seems as though price levels may well be under further pressure over the coming weeks. We have already seen strong discount levels from last done deals and  with buyers only looking for bargain tonnage there is little manoeuvring to be made by sellers in order to keep price levels to where they currently stand.

 

Newbuilding Market (Total new orders placed this month: 124)

Back to low volumes for the newbuilding market with limited appetite for further ordering. The dropping prices have helped push some new deals that would have otherwise been unlikely to occur. There is still the lure for many owners that current prices are unlikely to hold for long as shipbuilders are under considerable financial pressure and with the going price levels are unable to keep healthy margins or in some cases even find themselves enduring losses on contracts signed.

Demolition Market (Total vessels scrapped this month: 72)

A rapidly changing market as the coinciding of the Ramadan, weakening of the Indian Rupee and still prevailing monsoon weather have all put a tremendous amount of pressure on the offered price levels coming out of the Indian Sub-Continent. Despite this we have still seen some very firm prices being paid comparable to the levels witnessed over the past 2 years.