Imported ship breaking offers stable, no fresh deals reported

Ship breaking prices were stable with no major deals being reported. Buyers from Pakistan looked to book a few cargoes at lower rates, while no major deals were reported India & Bangladesh.

India

Ship breaking activities in India remained firm for nearly two weeks over increased supply in the first two weeks of Jan’21 amid weak demand in the ship recycling sector, SteelMint’s weekly assessment showed.

The key factors are:-

Higher cost: The scrapped ship prices remained high & stood at around $440/LT (containers) as most of the end-buyers are in a wait-&-watch mode.

Availability of tonnage: Most of the buyers already have good tonnage. So, now they are looking for vessels at lower rates.

India’s local steel prices declined by $20-40/t w-o-w. Along with this, no major deals of scrapped ships from Alang port have been reported this week.

Indian currency also remained firm at INR 73 against the US dollar over unprecedented market trends.

• The total tonnage reported last week in the Alang port was at 90,727 LDT.
• A Drill Rig, named Bully II (27,147 LDT) arrived at the port.

While presenting the Union Budget 2021-22 in Parliament, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said, “ship recycling capacity will be doubled by 2024 and efforts are being made to bring more ships from Europe and Japan.”

Bangladesh

Unsurprisingly, no new sales happened this week, with vessels being diverted to higher priced locations. Also, end-users are looking for an opportunity to secure market tonnage at much lower rates. The prices were more or less firm.

• The total tonnage reported last week in the Chittagong port was 81,823 LDT.
• Four bulk carriers arrived at the port – An Li (24,604 LDT), Berni HK (13,450 LDT), Carol HK (13,401 LDT) & Seapol Endeavour (8,100 LDT).

Pakistan

Pakistani Buyers once again appear to be gearing up to compete with Bangladeshi End Buyers, at least on the limited supply of vessels that are geographically positioned to head to Gadani. However, no major deals concluded during the last week.

• The total tonnage reported last week in the Gadani port was at 29,210 LDT.
• An FPSO beached in the port- Erin (24201 LDT).