Aside from the container sector where pricing remains firm, other sectors saw sales ease off this month in line with prices finally cooling. In dry bulk, activity picked up slightly in the second half of the month as some sellers elected to bite the bullet, accepting this lower price environment in order to get the deal done, consequently values are at lower levels than what were seen last month. “The general fall in the asset values across the board can be attested to an unusually weak seasonal freight market,” Gibson noted. Norden sold two scrubber fitted, 2012-built capes – Nord Energy and Nord Power – to Hayfin Capital for a price just below $32m each. Tanker S&P brokers have spent most of the month twiddling their thumbs with many buyers waiting for asset values to correct downwards. Tanker sale and purchase activity remains very limited with the bid offer spread widening by the week Broker Hartland noted: “Tanker sale and purchase activity remains very limited with the bid offer spread widening by the week and one would expect a further correction is forthcoming unless we see a rally in the freight market.” “The absence of any large deadweight crude or product tanker sales speaks to the uncertainty beset upon the market presently with the annually anticipated winter seasonal boost taking its time to show itself set against a backdrop of asset values looking to have peaked and gravity now tugging at the tails of older fleet ranks,” Gibson noted. One sale stands out in Greece, sealed in the popular MR segment. Greek tanker owner IMS sold its second tanker in a row, almost doubling its money by selling the 2004-built, 47,000 dwt Bruno for $17m. The Marios Gialozoglou-led company paid $9m for the ship in 2018. The rusty tanker is now registered and owned by Haona International Group, a Chinese company, and renamed Seaway. From famine to feast, the container sector remains the polar opposite of what is being experienced in dry bulk and tankers. “The market continues to thrive with strong interest from buyers, driving competitive negotiations for the available candidates,” noted MB Shipbrokers, with Braemar chipping in: “As the charter market continues its rich vein of form, the S&P market shows no sign of falling away.” Goldenport Shipmanagement completed the sale of their 2002-built, 2,500 vessel, Calliope, to Chinese buyers for $13m. The Calliope is on charter to Seacon until mid- 2026, underscoring the ongoing interest in older tonnage. The 2008-built, 2,702 teu Intersea Traveler was sold to China-based interests at a price of $22.5m with charter attached for three months from delivery. “Whilst the conventional wisdom was that the market would fall away and suffer nervousness on the back of global tensions and economic struggles, the container market seems to be something of an outlier at the moment with positive moves right across the board. It is self-fulfilling as 2025 charter positions slip away, the dearth of ships one can buy also falls away and with more buyers than ships, prices seem set to increase further,” Braemar suggested. TagsSplash Extra Archive Splash Extra November 2024