Bulker Values to Slide Further in 2019
VesselsValue has, together with Oslo-based shipping consultancy firm ViaMar, released forecasted asset values in which it was indicated that bulker values would continue to slide in the current year.
It has been a tumultuous six months in the dry bulk sector, with China imposing quotas limiting coal imports during November and December 2018, the US China trade war providing uncertainty in the markets as well as the catastrophe of Vale’s dam collapse on the 25th January 2019, causing hundreds of civilian casualties.
These iron ore and coal developments have put downward pressure on dry bulk freight rates after a seasonal soft fourth quarter, said the report.
Capesize freight rates have tumbled and dragged freight rates for all dry bulk segments with it. However, during the past weeks, the other segments have recovered. Rates for Capesize vessels are still depressed.
In response, values marginally weakened during the fourth quarter and continued to slide during the first quarter this year. No second hand sales for Capesize vessels have been recorded since the19th December 2018, a market first.
On the supply side, scrapping has increased substantially with just over 3 million DWT removed from the water during the first quarter of 2019, and ordering has remained very low.
