Ship Recycling: India Increasing Activity as Pakistan Reopens for Business

The ship recycling market seems to be “waking up” once again. In its latest weekly report, shipbroker Clarkson Platou Hellas said that “there seems to be two mindsets from recyclers in Alang, India this week. Some recyclers appear to be increasing their interest to procure tonnage and we have seen improved rates by some USD 15-20 per ldt this week. However, some with inventories on their yards, are reportedly adopting a wait and see approach with a less than optimistic sentiment about the future market conditions. Fundamentally, these improvements could be short-lived as ingot prices have increased, but demand for finished products remains low. The increased impetus from India may also be on the back of the renewed vigour from Pakistan as this market certainly feels like they are once again ‘open for business’. Letters of Credit are being opened once again and more vessels seem to be heading to this direction. With more units arriving to this destination, some predict this may be a temporary reprieve as the finance may be saturated in the short term. But for now. Pakistan certainly looks like the ‘go-to’ market for the foreseeable future.

Demolition activity continues to move along at a fair pace with around 20 vessels recorded as heading for demolition over the past two weeks. It’s worth noting that the tanker sales ‘Irma Dulce’ and ‘Zelia Gattai’ were newbuilding projects that never launched and will be processed domestically in Brazil. The near 150k dwt they represent distorts the level of tanker recycling activity which has been well below last years trend to date this year at just over 1m dwt to the start of September; this figure was five times higher at the same point last year. Continuing to contrast with last year, container sales were prominent again this week with the sale of the ‘Sinokor Vladivostok’ notable for the achieved $589/ldt, the highest noted price per ldt since the mid-August sale of the ‘Sinokor Tianjin’ for in excess of $600/ldt. Indian yards continue to secure the majority of container sales, thanks to the unappealing prices in Chattogram and the preference of Pakistani breakers for cheaper dry bulk vessels.

 

Meanwhile, GMS, said in its latest report that “another week of speculation has passed in the Indian sub-continent ship recycling markets, as sales continue to register at ever increasing numbers, to increasingly bullish Cash Buyers who certainly seem to be banking on a Q4 revival. The chief proponents of this most recent and ongoing resurgence are India, and a re-merging Pakistani market that is back and bidding once again, after almost a year on the sidelines amidst political, financial, and disastrous economic chaos that nearly drove the country to a grinding halt”.

GMS added that “Bangladesh meanwhile remains stranded at the foot of the sub-continent price rankings for another week, with truly lowball and non-serious offers emerging from any of the currently open Chattogram Recyclers – who themselves are an increasingly dwindling group amidst these most recently limiting L/C restrictions. As such, it has increasingly turned into a sub-continent market of two, with India and Pakistan at the forefront, duking it out on any available market tonnage. On the West End, Turkey remains suspended in no-man’s land, with currencies unchanged and fundamentals dancing around levels from last week. Overall, there has been a noticeable increase in the number of container vessels that were concluded for a recycling sale in recent weeks, and a couple more were confirmed this week as well, including a Sinokor controlled unit at a highly speculative USD 589/LT LDT. In other news, GMS is proud to announce the roll out of the world’s first Ship Recycling Digital Platform, appropriately entitled the ‘Ship Recycling Portal’. The platform aims to revolutionize the way sales and purchases of ships happen locally into sub-continent markets, by offering a more transparent, efficient, and overall convenient service. The platform was launched at an exclusive event in Bhavnagar, India that was attended by over 80 leading ship recyclers”.
Nikos Roussanoglou, Hellenic Shipping News Worldwide