Bangladesh lifted its coronavirus lockdown on Sunday, but it remains uncertain when demolition activity will resume in the country.
Monday saw millions heading back to work in the densely populated cities even as the country logged a record spike in deaths and new infections.
The situation for ships arriving in Bangladesh for scrapping with foreign crew has eased slightly, according to Clarksons.
The shipbroker said that these ships are now allowed to be beached, with a 14-day quarantine in place from the last port of call prior to Chattogram.
“Immediately after disembarking, they will be tested and taken to [a] local hotel where they shall remain until they international flights resume,” the broker said.
“If they are Indian nationals, then they are free to travel across the border to India by bus, which takes around 35 hours.”
Restrictions on foreign crews delivering ships relaxed
A similar position towards foreign-crewed ships is underway in India, with an announcement expected from the authorities this week, according to Clarksons.
To date, ships that have been delivered to demolition facilities in India have been able to do so provided they only had Indian crew.
The shipbroker said the change had come after “much pressure” from local industry players to relax the restrictive rules.
“Such provision is on the basis that the crew be quarantined in local hotels until international flights recommence from Ahmedabad airport in the Gujarat state.”
However, on Monday, India launched the latest phase of its lockdown, which will see the lifting of curbs in a phased manner, but some states have extended the lockdown to 30 June.
Clarksons said these are small steps, but that "finally some progress is being made with these sensible provisions now in place to ensure the industry can operate to some scale during the pandemic".
Prices rising?
Demolition broker Ed McIlvaney said: "With beachings now being undertaken in Bangladesh and India, this has sparked a surge in activity and, somewhat surprisingly, in the price levels from the waterfront.
"While it now appears that foreign crews are permitted to disembark, they are still to undergo a 14-day quarantine and, with no international flights currently being permitted from the subcontinent, they will be required to remain in hotels."
The continued market uncertainty does not appear to have held back cash buyers who have been linked with another capesize sale into the Indian subcontinent.
Greece’s New Shipping is reported to have achieved a rate of $310 per ldt for its 170,565-dwt New Athens (built 1999) from Pakistani buyers.
However, there remains the issue of crew arrangements on arrival to this destination as currently no beaching is allowed to take place, according to Clarksons.
An unnamed VLOC has also been reported sold into India in the low $270s per ldt.
May was a very poor month, McIlvaney's data shows. Only two tankers were sold, equalling 78,574 dwt, while 25 dry cargo ships were scrapped with a capacity of 677,000 dt.
