Chinese shipowners dominated sale-and-purchase activity among Asian shipowners during the first three months of 2024, according to figures compiled by Veson Nautical.
They spent over $2.3bn on a total of 74 vessels — nearly three times the amount spent by the second-largest spenders, South Koreans.
Seoul-based owners spent a total of $844m on just 16 ships between January and March this year. Singapore owners were in third place, paying $396m on a total of 15 secondhand vessels.
Indonesian shipowners bought 14 vessels during the quarter for a total of $231.8m, with Vietnam rounding out the top five with nine ship purchases worth a total of $121.4m.
South Korea’s Sinokor was the largest individual spender by value, splashing out a total of $445m during the quarter on eight vessels.
All eight ships were VLCCs acquired from either John Fredriksen’s Frontline or Euronav, including the latter’s 308,000-dwt Nectar and Noble (both built 2008) and Newton (built 2009), according to Veson data.
Fellow South Korean owner Pan Ocean spent $261.5m on four vessels to make it the second-biggest spender.
ICBC Financial Leasing bought just one ship during the quarter — a 24,000-teu container ship newbuilding — but at a value of $232.6m it was enough to make it the third-biggest spender in Asia.
Singapore-based Winning Shipping spent just over $206m on six vessels to make it into the top four.
Asian shipowners spent a total of $4.3bn on secondhand vessels in the first quarter of 2024, the second-highest quarterly amount in the past five years with only more spent in the first quarter of 2022.
However, it was the lowest number of ships bought in one quarter for the past five years, with only 145 vessels changing hands, according to Veson data.
Seventy-three of the ships were bulkers, while 47 were tankers. The rest were either container ships or LNG and LPG carriers.
Japanese shipowners were the biggest sellers during the first quarter, offloading 41 vessels for a total of $863.1m. They were closely followed by Chinese owners who sold 40 ships worth $825m during the same period.
South Korean shipowners were in third place with 21 vessels sold worth $726.6m, while Singaporean owners sold a total of 21 ships worth just under $550m. Hong Kong shipowners rounded out the top five with sales of 18 vessels valued at $458m.
Polaris Shipping of South Korea raised the most money from ship sales in Asia in the first quarter, selling four vessels for a total of $262m. Sinokor was the second-largest seller of ships by value during the same period, disposing of a trio of vessels for $213m.
Hong Kong-based Fortune Oil sold two VLGCs — the 84,000-cbm Chinagas Legend and Chinagas Glory (both built 2020) — for $90m each to China’s Jovo Energy, making it the third-largest seller of ships in Asia by value.
Asian owners raised a total of $3.6bn from vessel sales during the quarter, the second-highest quarterly sales total in the past five years, second only to the $4.2bn raised from sales in the first quarter of 2022.
But as with ship purchases, vessel sales were the lowest quarterly amount in the past five years, with just 162 ships sold.
More than 100 of the vessels sold by Asian owners in the first quarter of 2024 were bulkers, followed by 28 tankers and eight container ships or LPG carriers.
