Last year saw a dip in sale-and-purchase deals, but 2023 still came in as the third-busiest on record.

Clarksons Research said secondhand vessel transaction volumes remained “robust”, with 2,202 deals logged.

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These vessels totalled 130m dwt and were worth $51bn, behind only 2021 and 2022, the UK company added.

Greece’s Xclusiv Shipbrokers tallied a total of 1,256 sales in tanker and bulker markets by 20 December.

This represented a near-10% decline from 2022.

A total of 632 dry bulk ships changed hands, against 711 units the year before.

Tanker activity eased from the 27-year high reached in 2022, with 618 sales recorded.

This was a drop of nearly 11% from the previous year.

MR2s and aframax/LR2s were the most sought-after, accounting for 269 transactions, the Greek shop added.

“Despite the slowdown in most segments, the MR2, panamax/LR1 and VLCC segments bucked the trend, increasing by 11%, 17%, and 15%, respectively, year-on-year,” it said.

Greeks selling fast too

While sales declined across almost all age groups, there was a significant increase of 57% for vessels aged 21 or older.

Greek and Chinese interests were the primary buyers, acquiring 61 and 63 vessels respectively.

Companies from the United Arab Emirates concluded 53 deals, while those from Turkey were involved in 37 transactions.

Greek owners were also active sellers, getting rid of 127 tankers. Of these, 68 were in the 16-20 year age band.

Handysize and supramax sectors drove dry S&P activity in 2023, with 149 and 142 sales, respectively, followed by capesizes with 98 sales.

“Although the number of transactions decreased for most sectors in 2023 compared to 2022, buying appetite for capesize, ultramax, and newcastlemax vessels increased significantly,” Xclusiv said.

Capesizes nearly doubled in volume at 98 ships, with newcastlemaxes on 19.

Having sold a significant portion of their older vessels, Greek shipowners were very active in the newbuilding market in 2023, the broker also noted.

They placed orders for 90 bulk carriers, representing around 20% of the total dry orders placed in 2023.

This compares to just 40 bulk carriers contracted in 2022.

Greeks also booked 123 tankers, 34% of the total, a surge of close to three times from 2022.

The primary focus was on the aframax/LR2 sector, with 51 orders placed, followed by suezmax and panamax/LR1 sizes, with 36 and 14 orders, respectively.