News Flash! Greek Shipowners Prefer Bulkers

The buying interest from Greek ship owners is focused on bulkers to an increasing extent, BIMCO said. Data from VesselsValue.com reveal that Greek owners were at the buying end of 43% of all bulker sales completed so far in 2014. As of June 2014, the number of Greek bulker purchases so far is 91, compared to 81 for the full year of 2012. The level of activity seen so far in 2014 would suggest Greek owners are on target to top the 199 bulker purchases completed in 2013. “The interest is much centered on bulkers and has become more and more explicit over the past two years, whereas Greek buying interest in tankers and containerships is flat,” said Peter Sand, Chief Shipping Analyst, BIMCO.  The market share of Greek tanker purchases has averaged at 19% in the past 2.5 years. So far this year, Greek owners has bought 39 tankers, only 12 of these built before 2000.

Newbuild Investment
Greek ship owners are not only the most active nation when it comes to sales and purchases, they are also investing the most in newbuilding contracts, BIMCO reported. Since 2010, contracts made by owners in Greece total $51B, dwarfing the likes of Norway and China as buyers.
“The Greek ship owners’ interest in newbuilding contracts has continued into 2014, where 73 new contracts valued at $4.3 billion have been signed,” said Sand. “Due to a focus on higher value ship segments, they consistently top China on value, despite losing out on the total number of contracts signed for all years but 2013”.
China has signed a total of 98 newbuilding contracts in 2014. In 2013, ship owners in China signed 270 contracts, but Greek ship owners went up to 284.
 

(As published in the July 2014 edition of Maritime Reporter & Engineering News - http://magazines.marinelink.com/Magazines/MaritimeReporter)