Capesize bulker values have risen to their highest point in seven months and buoyant market sentiment could lift them even higher, according to research.
Values for 180,000-dwt vessels have jumped by 16.4% since the beginning of March, from $53.1m to $61.7m, the highest levels since August 2022, according to a report from VesselsValue.
The data platform highlighted Tomini Shipping’s purchase of two newcastlemaxes from Mangrove Partners with time charters from Oldendorff Carriers attached, as previously reported in TradeWinds.
Tomini bought the 208,300-dwt MP The Vrabel (built 2021) and 208,200-dwt MP The Bruschi (built 2020) for just over $60m each.
The Vrabel has a market value of $56.3m, while the MP The Bruschi is valued at $55.3m, according to VesselsValue estimates. Chinese shipbuilder Jiangsu Yangzi Xinfu Shipbuilding built both Liberia-flagged ships.
“As we enter the traditionally stronger second quarter, sentiment for capesize vessels has soared, strengthening values further,” Rebecca Galanopoulos Jones, VesselValues’ senior content analyst, wrote in the report, which was published on Thursday.
She noted that capesize values could be boosted further in the second quarter and beyond as China lifts restrictions on Australian coal imports.
“Therefore, demand is expected to surge in the coming weeks, which will be favourable for capesize earnings as Chinese importers seek to resume imports of high-quality Australian ore,” she said.
Further, average spot rates for capesizes undertaking voyages between Brazil and China have jumped by 109% in March, from $7,700 per day to above $16,000 per day.
But freight rates have declined over the past few days as rumours of China cutting steel production circulated in the market.
The Baltic Exchange’s Capesize 5TC average spot rate across five key routes fell to $14,528 per day on Wednesday, before bouncing up to $15,396 per day on Thursday.
Old ladies in the market
All this being said, liquidity in the sale-and-purchase market is coming from older, more inefficient sales candidates, for which prices have remained around the same level.
Reported capesize deals this month so far have all been older vessels with an estimated Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII) rating of D, according to Clarksons estimates.
Brokers report that Golden Ocean Group has sold two more capesize bulk carriers for $23m each to unknown buyers in an en-bloc deal. Golden Ocean chief executive Ulrik Andersen declined to comment on the deal.
The 169,000-dwt vessels Golden Shui and Golden Feng (both built 2009) are fitted with scrubbers and ballast water treatment systems. The sister ships were built at Daehan Shipbuilding, South Korea.
The price is in line with the last reported capesize deal, when Rainbow Maritime of Hong Kong reportedly sold the 180,406-dwt Xin Jin Hai (built 2009) to unnamed Chinese interests for $23m in a deal that came to light on 14 March. The China-built capesize has a ballast water system fitted.
As previously reported by TradeWinds, a pair of slightly younger capesizes were sold by GoodBulk last week to a buyer believed to be Norden.
The 179,000-dwt Aquatonka and Aquahaha (both built 2012) went for $28m each in an en-bloc deal.
Both were built at Hyundai Heavy Industries’ Subic Bay yard in the Philippines and are fitted with ballast water treatment systems.
Norden CEO Jan Rindbo this week confirmed to TradeWinds that the company has indeed bought two capesizes, but declined to say whether they are the GoodBulk pair.
The reported price for the Aquatonka and Aquahaha is around the same as what GoodBulk achieved in January when it sold the South Korean-built 180,012-dwt Aquasalwador and 178,896-dwt Aquamarie (both built 2012) for $57m en bloc.
The buyer was said to be Laskaridis Maritime, controlled by the family of Athanasios (Thanassis) Laskaridis.
As TradeWinds has reported, CII ratings are becoming influential in S&P deals, with E-rated vessels the least likely to change hands.
