Ship Recycling Market “Woefully Slow”

Global markets seemed to take a breather this week as things turned slow across the board once again, not only on the shipping side but even the ship recycling side of things, reports cash buyer GMS.

Currencies fluctuated in moderate tandem, local steel plate prices made surprisingly marginal moves, all while the Baltic Exchange Dry Index (BDI) slipped and oil steadied itself. The BDI reported a declining week that shaved off about 3.2% last week, dropping to its lowest levels since early October as the Cape index took the lead shaving off over 6% of its value, while Supramaxes dipped a comparatively milder 9 points and the Panamax index remained steady for the week even though the overall index is nearly 4% down.

“As the global dark / shadow fleets start to grow, the woeful performance of the Indian sub-continent ship recycling markets continues on, and there are few emerging signs of light at the end of the tunnel (more like an oncoming freight train) for the remainder of this year,” says GMS. “Prices have fallen so low over recent weeks that constant discussions of prices below $400/LDT are comfortably prevalent and it seems increasingly certain that any viable recovery