Ship-scrapping process continues
At least 427 ships were taken to the scrapyard in the first five months of the year, with local shipowners renewing the Greek fleet at a rapid rate. The total capacity of the scrapped vessels came to 13 million tons. Dry-bulk carriers comprised about 9.4 percent of this total, while tankers accounted for 30 percent, general carriers 23.6 percent, and container ships 10.7 percent, according to data supplied by Greek shipbroking firm Golden Destiny SA. In May alone, ship withdrawals increased by a significant 19 percent over the previous month, reaching 100 vessels with a total capacity of 2.2 million tons. Existing data indicate that it was tankers and general carriers that had the biggest share of the scrappage in May, while the volume of offloaded dry-bulk carriers remains at particularly low levels, with just 12 vessels going to the scrapyard, whose total capacity came to 547,000 tons. India holds a dominant position in ship scrapping, as its share reached 44.5 percent in the year’s first five months. «India, along with China and Pakistan, had the biggest share of the scrappage market, while Bangladesh seems to have slipped from the dominant position it shared with India the previous month. The environmental issues that came up in the last couple of weeks of May resulted in a freeze of the market in Bangladesh,» Golden Destiny suggested in its monthly report. Scrapping rates posted a decline in May, compared with April, closing at $310 to $350 per ton for dry-bulk and general carriers and at $350 to $400 per ton for liquid load carriers.
