Greece’s Moundreas family has earned more from the demolition sale of a capesize than it spent to buy the ship in the secondhand market four years ago.
Unimar Shipping’s 170,100-dwt Win Win (built 2001) is heading to a Bangladeshi scrapyard for about $585 per ldt, or about $12m, according to Piraeus-based ship-management sources.
This far exceeds the $9m to $9.5m the outfit spent in 2017 to buy the IHI Marine United-built ship, which was then trading as the CE Duke in the fleet of Greek peer Centrofin Management.
Moundreas had bought another Centrofin capesize at the time — the 172,500-dwt Ce Alliance (renamed Ganbei, built 2001). Moundreas sold the vessel for demolition in February last year at $390 per ldt, including on-board bunkers.
The Win Win deal marks the first capesize demolition recorded in the Indian subcontinent since April.
The most recent Greek-controlled capesize known to have been broken up was the 170,400-dwt Alpha Cosmos (built 2001), which Anna Angelicoussis company Alpha Bulkers offloaded about six months ago for an undisclosed price.
The paucity of capesize demolition deals is undoubtedly due to high freight rates, which have discouraged owners from parting with their vessels.
According to Clarksons, as of 4 June, just 3m dwt of capesize tonnage has been sold for scrap so far this year, down 44% from the same period in 2020.
However, market dynamics have changed with rising steel prices leading to soaring demolition values. Average capesize scrap values rose to $11.8m this month, the highest level in 10 years, according to Clarksons.
The price achieved for the Win Win exceeds even that benchmark and may encourage other similar deals, in a demolition market that has been looking for direction lately.
Sentiment among cash buyers weakened last week “due to volatility in global steel prices, the uncertainty of tax implications from newly announced budgets and the ongoing monsoon season in the subcontinent market,” analysts at brokerage Best Oasis said in their latest report on 11 June.
“Both shipowners and recyclers are reluctant to make new offers as they want to gauge the direction of prices,” Best Oasis added.
In a separate demolition deal involving a tanker, New Shipping's 300,000-dwt VLCC New Diamond (built 2000) is said to have been sold at just below $525 per ldt.
An earlier attempt to scrap the vessel last month at similar price levels is believed to have failed, according to brokers. The New Diamond is under a tow after a fire that wrecked the ship in September.
Trond Lillestolen contributed to this article
