LONDON: In what could prove as a great bargaining opportunity for many ship owners, there seems to be a solid trend towards lower newbuilding prices, as shipbuilders are looking to attract more business. According to the latest weekly report from shipbroker Allied Shipbroking, “the softening price trend continues as the bulk of shipbuilders report sub par quarterly earnings. The difficulties having been noted during the course of the year has taken its toll on the majority of shipbuilders in all three major shipbuilding nations”.
Allied noted that “few are those which seemed to have escaped the poor operating performance and those few seemed to have used the opportunities that arose in the tanker market taking up their good reputation in the construction of product tankers to gain an upper hand during the current market downturn. The question here is that even these few shipbuilders will be finding it ever more difficult to avoid slipping into the red, as expectations regarding activity moving forward are for a continuation of what we had seen during the majority of 2015. The only escape seems to be through a continued consolidation in the shipbuilding market in order to better balance supply in accordance with the pre-vailing demand side of things”.
Meanwhile, in a separate weekly report, Clarkson Platou Hellas noted that “the focus of ordering this week has been in the coated/specialised tanker markets. COSCO Dalian announced an order for one firm 22,000dwt coated product tanker for delivery at the end of 2016. The buyer is understood to be Hong Kong based Heng Tong Fuels & Shipping. Although understood to have been signed earlier this year, it has come to light that ABC Maritime (Canada) have ordered three firm 21,800dwt IMO2 coated shallow draft chemical tankers at Triyards (Ho Chi Minh). Delivery of all three vessels is planned for 2H 2017.
In the ferry/ropax markets, Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL) have announced that contracts have been signed with Ferguson Marine in Scotland for two 100m ropax. Pricing is in the region GBP 48.5m each, with delivery planned for 1H 2018”, the shipbroker concluded.
