South Asia: Pakistan ship-breaking market becomes active

Ship-breaking prices in the sub-continental markets of South Asia — Bangladesh, India and Pakistan — remained unchanged w-o-w.

However, Pakistani buyers managed to steal a unit away not only from India but also from its competitor, Bangladesh.

Pakistan secures share of tankers

Gadani buyers saw an overall decline in steel plate prices since the start of September.
Moreover, the Pakistani rupee also dropped to PKR 169.31 from PKR 165.32 against the US dollar at the end of last week.

Yet, Gadani buyers managed to secure their share of tankers throughout this year, including last week. This kept Pakistan positioned just behind Bangladesh.

Deals

•  A tanker, INGRID, of 15,591 LDT, was concluded at $614/light displacement tonnage (LDT).
• A tanker, Splendour, of 10,045 LDT, was beached at Gadani Port.
• A barge, Miclyn 283, of 1,671 LDT, was also beached.
• A tanker, Pacific Bravery I, of 10,000 LDT, arrived at the port.
• Total tonnage at Gadani Port last week was reported at 44,497 LDT, up by 2% w-o-w.

Bangladesh loses out to Pakistan

Sentiments only weakened in Bangladesh with no market sales happening last week too. Steel plate prices also went down since the beginning of September.

Local buyers lost out a tanker to Pakistani recyclers last week.

However, according to sources, 18 units and nearly around 100,000 LDT are in the process of being beached.

Deals

• Two bulk carriers, De Sing Jin of 2,603 LDT, and Karunia of 9,614 LDT, arrived at the port.
• Four tankers, Explorindo 1 (8,554 LDT), Get Luck (3,056 LDT), Ion (6,950 LDT) and New Harmony (2,945 LDT), also arrived.
• Two general cargoes, Lola of 1,051 LDT and Moresby Express II (under tow) of 2,785 LDT, arrived.
• A tanker, Tango, of 8,636 LDT, was beached.
• A floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) unit, named Rubi (under tow) and of 19,692 LDT, was also beached.
• A reefer, Xin Yu, of 3,221 LDT, was beached.
• Total tonnage reported last week at Chattogram Port was 93,730 LDT, up by 184% w-o-w.

India steady in race

Like Bangladesh, Indian steel plate prices too saw a decline over the past few weeks.

The volatility in steel plate prices helped Alang buyers to maintain a comparatively firmer vessel pricing as compared to its neighbouring country, Bangladesh.

According to sources, this might help India to eventually lead the ship recycling market as Diwali is approaching. The Indian rupee was also stable at 74 for the month.
Deals

• Two chemical tankers, Angel, of 2,790 LDT, and Daeho Sunshine of 3,318 LDT, was beached at the port.
• Two chemical tankers, Angel 1, of 3,228 LDT, and Bon of 4,450 LDT, arrived at the port.
• A RoRo, Bluefort, of 10,120 LDT, also arrived.
• A tanker, Egan, of 3,292 LDT, was beached.
• A general cargo, Kaiptan Demidyuk, of 5,618 LDT, was also beached.
• A jack-up, Maria (under tow), of 9,263 LDT, arrived.
• A mobile offshore drilling unit (MODU), Reo (under tow), of 18,060 LDT, also arrived.
• Total tonnage at Alang Port last week amounted to 60,139 LDT.

Outlook

The sub-continent markets have entered a confused state, as sentiments are heading downwards. However, Alang buyers are certainly in a far better position as the calendar’s fourth quarter approaches.

Prices as on 28th Sep’21

Prices in $/LDT
Source- SteelMint Research